Little Miss Stony
by DorugaruAtisuto
Summary: Peter has a little sister now, who's eleven, almost twelve years old. She adores Captain America and Iron Man, though never expected to ACTUALLY be their daughter in her dreams, yes . But as upsetting as it is, Emilee, who has no powers, will have to find her own way to be a hero. Not as easy as you think. Stony, Spideypool, OCxOC
1. Green Lantern, Batman, and Black Cat

_Currently obssessing hard over Superfamily xD lol Stony and Spideypool are so amazing :heart:_

_Stony... Hurhur, I'm so clevar :D lol_

* * *

1. Green Lantern, Batman, and Black Cat

* * *

"Miss Stony," the woman tried again, voice beginning to lose patience. "Please listen to me - "

"Nope," the black haired girl said, popping the 'p' and never looking up from her easel, where a sketched family was. Two men and their son. "You done yet? Yes? Please leave, like, now. I'm busy." She took a darker pencil and began to draw over the sketch, before grabbing a pack of oil crayons and taking out a yellow one to color one of the father's hair.

'Miss Stony' was a petite girl, no older than twelve, ten or fifteen pounds underweight. Lightly tanned skin and dark almond shaped eyes left her nationality questionable. A white tank, unbuttoned, boy-style, red plaid flannel shirt and loose jeans held up by a Domo seatbelt-like belt casually tossed off the sense that the girl had grown up with guys.

The woman stepped over to the girl, adjusting her slate gray jacket. "Miss Stony, this is important," she told the girl gently.

'Miss Stony' blew out an impatient breath and stared up at the ceiling, before glancing down at her digital black and red G-Force watch and setting the yellow medium she used down. "Five minutes. Start."

"Miss Stony you... are adopted." The woman looked as if she pitied 'Miss Stony', and the dark haired girl stared back boredly, so the woman tucked a part of blonde hair behind her ear.

"No shit, Sherlock," she deadpanned, sparing one last glance over her shoulder before returning to her drawing. "Leave now? I _really_ don't need you repeating what I already know of my life, thanks."

The woman leaned down and partially covered the girl's easel with her hand. "I still have four minutes and thirteen seconds," she reminded.

The girl glared at her. "Fine. Hurry up."

"Miss Stony - "

"Emilee."

"Huh?"

The girl's glare intensified with a scowl. "'Miss Stony' is annoying. Emilee is quicker. Now go on."

"Um, right... So, _Emilee_," the woman said, "Your parents are not what you think they are. These two men" - Emilee did little more than blink at that - "are willing to take you back. With your consent, you will be taken to them in a week."

Emilee paused and took the hair clamp out of her spiky-ish bun, straight dark hair rolling down and onto her shoulders. She sighed and thought for more than a minute in silence, while the woman in green respectively kept herself quiet.

"Lemme get this straight," Emilee sighed, slipping her geek chic glasses off of the bridge of her nose and rubbing at her tired eyes. "You expect me to believe that I'm adopted, and my real parents want to take me back? After eleven, almost twelve years of - oh for the love of - ya know what I'm not even going to - forget that, I'm going to. I won't even stop myself anymore."

The woman looked a bit confused with the girl. After all, Emilee was basically talking to herself, never finishing her sentence. Maybe it was a normal thing?

Emilee stood up, and walked over to a curtain and pulled it back just enough for her to see whatever was behind it. She muttered something along the lines of 'just wishful thinking' and 'impossible' and 'well I guess - no.', then some other things in Japanese the woman couldn't understand.

Emilee moved back to her wooden stood in front of her easel and sat down, grimacing. "I suppose I can think it over," she sighed. Picking up a regular, yellow No. 2 pencil and grabbing an index card from a cluttered stack of papers, the black haired girl shoved it at the woman. "Give me your number so that I can give you my decision by the next forty-eight hours."

The blonde smiled and jotted down her company cell phone number and then wrote her name down.

"My name is Pepper Potts," she smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Emilee. I predict we will be seeing much of each other in the near future."

_Let's hope not_, Emilee muttered to herself. Instead, she faked a small, polite smile back to the blonde. "Look forward to my calling you, Ms. Potts."

Emilee kept up the fake smile until Pepper left the attic - Emilee's bedroom - before groaning and moving to the wall and completely moving back the curtains that lined a whole length of her wall, tearing them back with such ferocity that the fabric almost ripped.

Emilee drank in the headlines, the pictures she managed to take while her two favorite Avengers, the small pieces of the Avengers' battles that she'd somehow salvaged encased in glass boxes.

Iron Man. With his red and gold suit and cocky, sarcastic, and unfiltered personality, Emilee thought him to be a great role model. With a more devilish side.

Captain America. The United State's golden boy in tight blue spandex. Angelic and caring, always thinking of others first got Emilee hooked the first time the Avengers had been in her little suburb of Glendale, California, saving shit from a giant marshmallow monster thing(villains are getting very dull lately).

"God I hope they let me keep this."

* * *

Early Monday morning, Emilee was waiting in front of her apartment complex when Steve ran over to her, arms flailing and looking thoroughly upset while Matt followed slowly behind, unfazed. Everyone was used to Steve's over exaggerated ways.

Lawrence Steve Dorsey III was an African American boy with buzzcut black hair, warm mocha skin, and pair of kaliedescopes for eyes. He and Emilee had been in such a good platonic relationship that they'd become like siblings, watching out for each other, though Steve insisted Emilee needed more protection than he did. His 'little sister' thought her 'older brother' was still pretty childish, and, dispite the fact that Steve couldn't keep water shut, much less his mouth(which got him in trouble plenty of times with Emilee), Steve was someone she could confide in.

Mathias Luke Macatangay, a Philipino boy with only a little more meat on his bones than Emilee and horrible eyesight, was Emilee's ex-boyfriend, though they'd established a pretty solid friendship through it all. With his tan skin, eyes(darker than his former girlfriend's), and handsome features, it was no question why Emilee still liked him. His personality was kind and respectable, he had an inablity to be even a moderately good liar but a skill to keep things hidden if absolutely necessary, and was able to crack a good dirty joke every now and then.

"EM, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?!" Steve wailed. Emilee stared at him and opened her arms to him for a hug, which he flung himself into. "WHY ARE YOU LEAVING US?!"

Emilee gave a slightly guilty half-smile. "This could be my chance to find my real parents, Stevey," she said, squeezing him a little tighter. "And I'll be going to your hometown of New York City!"

Matt frowned and adjusted his black, square framed glasses. "You sure?"

The dark haired girl shrugged. "That's what the lady said when I called her Friday. Took a while, lots of crocodile tears, pleading, and guilt trips before Angel and Justin would let me go." Justin and Angel Merchant were Emilee's foster parents, a Mediteranian couple.

Matt's frown deepened. "What was her name, Em?"

Emilee gave Steve one last pat on the back and then gently pushed him away to her side. "Uh, Pepper Potts, I think?"

Steve gaped at her. "PEPPER POTTS?"

Emilee fidgited and poked her 'brother'. "Uh, yeaaaahh...?"

Steve jumped up and bounced excitedly. "No way!" he yelled, eyes full of ecstatic joy. "That's Tony Stark's old secretary! She runs his company now!"

Emilee's eyes widened and grabbed the front of Steve's Green Lantern shirt and Matt's Batman(1) one. "_You're shitting me, right now._"

Both boys stared at her with wide eyes and shook their heads, and Emilee put her friends down. "Aw, crap." She adjusted her Black Cat form-fitting tee and groaned. "I just fucking - oh my God."

"What?" Steve asked, poking her jean-clad knee. Emilee rarely wore anything else but pants, and if she wore a dress or a skirt, she wore leggings.

"There may be a possibility that Tony-fucking-Stark and Steve-goddamn-Rogers are my parents." _Well._ _Someone_ likes cursing quite a bit again.

Matt scowled. "How did you rule that one out, _Princess_?"

Emilee glared back at him. "Shut it, Mathias. I said possibility. Learn to listen." She stood up suddenly, gathering her hair up into a high ponytail, eyes narrowed at a car that parked in front of her apartment. A black SUV pulled up and a man stepped out, walking up to the three friends.

"Hello, Miss Stony," the man said, fixing his tie of his suit. Emilee unconciously shrank back cautiously, eyes narrowing at the man. Steve and Matt lay their hands on their friend's shoulders reassuringly. "My name is Happy - " Emilee's eyes grew wide and eyebrows knit together in confusion and astonishment. " - and Ms. Potts sent me to retrieve you."

Steve nudged his 'sister' forward and he and Matt took Emilee's two suitcases, duffle bag, several boxes containing her Captain America and Iron Man things, and let their female friend keep her messenger bag. "We're going to LAX?" she asked. Her stomach twisted into knots and she longed to grab hold of her guy friends and never let go.

The man - Happy - shook his head and gestured towards the car, where Steve and Matt stood, looking a little upset that their smallest, age-wise and height-wise, member of their brotherhood at their school was leaving. Emilee's luggage was already in the trunk. "We'll be taking a private jet."

Emilee ran over to the boys and enveloped them in a tight hug, her head in the middle of their shoulders. "I love you," she whispered. Then she kissed them both on the cheek and turned to Happy. "I guess we're leaving now."

* * *

Needless to say, the drive and the plane ride was lonely. And boring, despite all the luxury. Being the only passenger there(she had no idea where Happy was), everything was empty.

She lifted herself out of her seat enough to pull her iPhone out of her back pocket.

_Stevey, i miss you_

She didn't expect him to text back, considering their altitude.

Emilee fell asleep waiting for his text, waking up to a pretty woman with auburn hair and a polite smile shaking her arm gently.

"Miss Stony, we're about to arrive," the attendant said. Emilee nodded and pulled her ponytail out and redid it in a high, messy bun with stray bangs framing her face and her sidebangs tucked back droopily behind her ear.

"Thanks," she murmured tiredly. She was going to suffer from jet lag and she knew it.

The next hour or so passed in a blur, Emilee not caring enough to listen and just dragging herself along. Not surprisingly, she found herself lost, in front of some candy store that smelled pretty enticing. Even from the window, she could _smell_ the root beer candy, the sour gummies, and chocolate. Emilee sighed and pushed the door open, taking a twenty out of her wallet and then putting the black and white checkered pouch with cutely drawn baby animals sown on the front back into her bag.

Five minutes later, Emilee left the store with three different varieties of sour candy and a small bag of root beer kegs. She sat down in front of the big shop window, her back against the wall as she sucked on a root beer candy and sighed.

If her parents, whoever they really were, cared enough, she hoped that she'd be safe by midnight. If not... Well then this whole thing was just a waste of time and utter bullshit.

* * *

Emilee had fallen asleep again, and this time, when she woke up, she was lying down in a queen sized bed. Her room was nice, but empty. She'd have to change that when she was healed from her jet lag.

Black walls, a whole wall of floor to ceiling windows, a large walk in closet, wooden floors, a door leading out of the room and another to a connected bathroom. It was all so large that it might as well have been a whole studio floor. Or it felt like that, anyways.

Emilee sat up and fixed her hair again, maroon silk sheets pooling at her waist. Rubbing her eyes to fight of the throbbing in her temples and vision fading to black from sitting up too fast, Emilee ruled out scenarios.

1) She was captured by crazy weirdos who were going to do any number of things to her

2) She was still be sleeping in front of that candy shop and was dreaming - which was disheartening, since the place was so nice

and

3) She wasn't dreaming, and she was safe and in her new home.

Emilee really hoped that it was the last one.

The bedroom door began to open and Emilee flung herself back down onto the matress, trying to look as if she were sleeping, regulating her breathing to deep, even breaths and hoping her heart wasn't loud enough to hear. The door closed again -

But there weren't any footsteps. Confused, Emilee opened her eyes again and looked around, and then, when she looked up, she screamed.

A boy with brown hair and glasses like hers was crawling on the ceiling, barefoot. "I knew you weren't sleeping still," he said.

Emilee screamed again, louder this time. Her bedroom door burst open, revealing a very shirtless Steve Rogers. By the looks of it, he was _busy_, due to his wrinkled jeans, messed up hair, swollen lips, and red bite marks littered across his chest.

So she screamed, again.

And then, when an equally shirtless and mussed up Tony Stark entered the room, Emilee did the only thing left.(Screaming was beginning to get tiring.)

She grabbed one of the pillows, and threw it at the boy on the ceiling. It missed him by a mile; Emilee has horrible aim.

"Stop screaming," Tony sighed. Emile almost shrank back into her pillows and wanted to crawl into a hole and die, she was so embarassed.

"Sorry," she said. She intented her voice to come out strong and bold, dripping with just a bit of sarcasm. Instead, it came out squeaky and mousy. _Fuck_.

Steve glanced up to see the boy on the ceiling. "Peter! What have I told you about no powers in the house?" Peter let go and dropped easily on his feet.

"Sorry, Pops," he said. "I just wanted to surprise her."

Emilee fought a glare at Peter and instead turned her attention to the two men in the doorway. "Uhm," three sets of eyes turned to her, and uncharacteristically, Emilee felt meek. "What do you want me to call you?"

Peter walked over to her with a small smile. "I call them Dad and Pops," he said. Emilee blinked.

"Who's who?"

Peter thought a moment. "Iron Man and Captain America, respectively." The girl nodded and Steve walked over to her with a smile on his lips. He took her hand, and it was everything Emilee could do to not draw it away.

"Welcome home, Emilee."

* * *

It _should've_ felt like home, but Emilee was still in shock about Tony Stark and Steve Rogers being her parents. And it didn't have the warmth that she had back home with Justin, Angel, Steve, Matt, and the rest of her 'family'.

At dinner, no one ate at the table. Steve finished cooking, then he and Tony went down to Tony's lab and Peter took his food to his room. Emilee was left alone to eat, sitting cross-legged on the counter and barefoot. The cold chill she got from the A/C blowing through her still shower-wet hair and over the exposed skin uncovered by her white tank top and black yoga pants.

After dinner, Emilee put her dishes in the sink, grabbed a can of Arizona sweet tea from the fridge, and retreated to her room next to Peter's upstairs.

As she passed, she caught the eye of her brother, who was playing a MMORPG on his computer. Head down, she slunk into her room and walked over to the pile of boxes and full luggage.

Emilee spent the three hours difference of time between Los Angeles(9 PM) and New York(midnight) City unpacking boxes and suitcases. The furniture from her old room had been delivered an hour ago and she'd refused any assistance, moving everything in by herself. The silk sheets on her bed were now in the closet and replaced with Legend of Zelda beedsheets. All of her art things were in one corner, occupying a whole fourth by itself.

Even with all her clothes, there was still plenty of space in the walk-in closet. She used it to place all her Captain America/Iron Man things. Now that she was living in what she suspected to be Stark Tower, the collection was a bit embarassing. She just hoped that no one saw it.

Just as she closed the closet door, there was a knock at her door and Peter walked in with two glasses of bright blue soda.

"Hey," he greeted. Emilee inclined her head back silently. "Thought you might want some company."

"Thanks," she murmured, accepting the cup. Lifting the glass to her lips, Emilee's nose crinkled as carbonated bubbled flicked into her nose. "What _is_ this?"

Peter grinned. "Ginger ale and blue raspberry syrup."

"Like, syrup for shaved ice?" she asked. "I used to do that with the syrup we got back home!"

"Really?" her brother said, following her to the other side of the room and taking the swivel chair in front of her desk while Emilee sat on her bed. "That's so cool!"

The two trailed off onto - mostly - unrelated subjects, laughing and joking and telling stories and playing around as if they'd grown up together, unaware of two pairs of eyes watching them from the doorway that snuck off when the two 'new' siblings decided to go to sleep.

When Emilee returned from the joint bathroom, her cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much.

As she slipped under the covered and tapped her lamp twice to turn it off, Emilee couldn't help but think everything was alright.

But before she could sleep, she had to text the first brother she'd ever known.

Grabbing her iPhone from the bedside table, she smiled again when her lock screen lit up to show her and Peter making faces at the camera, wearing some of Emilee's hats.

Selecting the picture from her files, she posted it to Facebook and tumblr with a very long message.

_I'm safe, though I miss you guys. At home right now and it's almost three in the morning. I have a brother named Peter. He likes ginger ale or club soda and shaved ice syrup, staying home and watching movies with popcorn..._

* * *

1) _Matt has two superhero shirts. A Batman one and a Superhero one, and her wears both a lot... Took me a while to pick D: And since it's the middle of summer vacation, I've forgotten what Steve dresses like..._

_FUCK YEAH! WRITTEN IN TWO DAYS, BITCHES! xD haha_

_So? How do you like it? :D I hope you do, because I plan to have good things planned for this story! :3_

_Oh, and Matt and Steve are actually my best friends. Steve doesn't like to be called Lawrence so... yeah. Hope it's not too bad when Steve and Steve Rogers are in one scene(if it comes to that in the plot)... lol we won't be seeing much more of Emilee's old friends and family until later in the story._

_See you next time!_

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	2. Useless

_I fixed the Dad and Pops situation :3 Steve is Pops and Tony is Dad~ haha FINALLYYYy!1!_

_This was mostly written while I was sick for several days with some kind of stomach flu. Again. UGH. Wonderful way to spend my summer._

_The writing becomes a little different in the second scene(breaklines show the start/end of a 'scene') because I've been listening to the Narnia audiobooks while I draw and they're amazing :heart:_

_Also, the scenes aren't as good as I was hoping to make it D: It's so... odd and awkward(I'm starting to like this word quite a bit, along with 'slightly' and 'quite' and things like that...). This is annoying. I'll be transitioning to Emilee's POV for some chapters here, 3rd person's POV for some chapters there._

* * *

2. Useless

* * *

Emilee slowly pried her dark orbs open, large amounts of sunlight pouring over her. Rubbing at her eyes, she yawned widely, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

She picked up her phone from the side table and checked it for any calls or texts and the time. 7:22 AM. Eh. Not too bad. She got by most nights with very few hours of sleep anyways, which explained the almost ever-present mid-light shadows around her eyes.

As a ritual, she made her start her mornings differently. Sometimes she repeated things, but if ever, it was copied weeks or months later, when it was forgotten. She hopped into the bathroom and took another shower, used the toilet, and brushed her hair out.

Emilee had barely sat back down on her bed, dressed in a black tank and unbuttoned, olive green hunter jacket, and rip-away jeans when there was a knock at her door and she called out a 'Come in' before she saw Peter, already dressed and ready for school, minus his shoes.

"Morning, Emilee," he greeted, crawling up the wall and across the ceiling to drop onto her bed. He'd revealed that he was Spiderman the night before, and, other than a little bit of squealing and excitement, his sister had taken it pretty easily.

"Hey, Peter," the girl smiled, ruffling his hair and taking his glasses.

Peter snorted. "Give them back, Fun-Sized."

Emilee stuck her tongue out and slid them up her nose, pushing off her bed and suddenly bolting out of her room and down the hall and the flight of stairs.

"Emilee!"

Said girl cackled madly as she neared the stairs, hair flying behind her and in her face. Since her jeans were so long, they went over her feet and she slipped... to tumble painfully down the stairs.

The the top of the stairs, Peter stared down with mouth open in horror at the crumpled form of his sister, who lay motionless. "Emilee!"

Suddenly, she bounced back up and began to laugh manically, darting into the kitchen. Peter shouted at her to come back and give him his glasses, shooting a web to the ceiling and crawling quickling to the kitchen as well.

"Emilee! Stop!" Peter demanded, eyes flicking around, trying to keep track of the small girl.

"NO!" And then, she did. All movement stopped and Peter dropped back to the floor to see what happened.

All the Avengers had been eating in the table in the kitchen, though Emilee hadn't noticed them. And while she had been running around, she ran into a very muscled chest. And it kinda hurt, since she fell back on her ass.

Looking up, she saw a huge smile, long blonde hair, and -

_Oh my gosh he's gorgeous._

"HELLO, CHILD OF THE MAN OF IRON AND CAPTAIN OF THE STARS AND STRIPES!" the man bellowed. Was he deaf, or...?

"Um, do I know you...?" she asked quietly, glancing around the room. She saw Pepper Potts with a clipboard, and she suddenly noticed that she looked kinda like her friend, Rose. A guy with a bow by his feet looked like Rose's brother, Aarin, and Black Widow(Emilee adored her) looked like Aarin's girlfriend, Maddie, with shorter hair.

The man who Emilee had slammed into threw his head back and laughed and Emilee shrank back.

_This guy is weird_...

Emilee rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bruise forming. "Again, do I know you?"

Hands came from behind and took the glasses from her face. Spinning around, Emilee grabbed onto Peter. "PEEEETERRRRR!" she wailed whinily. "GOLDILOCKS IS HOT AND WEIRD AT THE SAME TIIIIMEE!"

"I see you've met Thor," her brother said, nodding to the Asgardian. He introduced her to the rest of the Avengers and Emilee just stared at Pepper, face wiped blank. If anyone noticed, they'd see her hands shaking very slightly.

"Miss Potts," Emilee said evenly. "Pleasure to see you here."

Pepper shifted her clipboard and tilted her chin up a little more. "Emilee."

Emilee unlatched herself from Peter and settled for dragging him over to the counter and leaning forward against it, gaze never faltering. "_So_," she said, ice just beginning to settle in the corners of her words. "What's my surname now? You didn't quite mention anything about..." she paused a moment, thinking. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers being my parents. I demand an explaination later." Peter twitched. Really? 'Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers'?

"Emilee," Steve said warningly. "Please show a bit of respect for Pepper."

Ignoring her 'father', she turned to her big brother without another glance at the blonde assistant and looked pleadingly at her brother. "Can I come with you to school?"

The two went up the stairs, chatting about teachers and schools and the like, Emilee trying to refrain from showing any signs of her fidgitiness.

When they reached Emilee's room, the girl plopped on her bed tiredly.

"I'm going to get sick from all this stress," she sighed. The turned her eyes to the brunette seated next to her on the bed. "Can you put some webs on my hands? I wanna see what it's like."

Peter shook his head and Emilee frowned.

"Why not?"

"Acidic, I think," Peter responded.

Emilee groaned, fisting the case over her pillow, puffing out the smell of peaches from her air freshener. "So _can_ I go to your school?"

Peter shook his head. "Don't think so. Besides, I'm almost in college and you're going to be in, what, seventh grade? I don't think Dad and Pops would allow it, anyways."

She pouted. "'kay..." she mumbled dejectedly. Then she frowned and glanced at the brunette. "Peter, I don't have powers."

He shrugged. "So?"

Emilee half sat up, half lay down, elbows propping her up. "Isn't it kinda weird? A kid with parents and a sibling who are heroes, but no powers herself?"

Peter shrugged again. "Not really, not here. Pops had the Super-Soldier Serum, and Dad has his Iron Man suit. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, so really, not all that odd. Might be better for you, actually, not to be a hero. Safer."

_Oh yeah, _that's_ reassuring._

The girl sighed again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Yeah, well, I feel pretty useless to everything. Can't do anything."

Peter reached over to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly, opening his mouth to say something, when a voice came from the door.

"You two alright?"

Emilee jumped a little and Peter nodded at Steve, who stood in the doorway. "We're fine, Pops," Peter answered. Emilee was still weary of calling Steve and Tony her parents. It was weird. Two superheroes that she'd idolized for years, only to find out they they were her...? No, it just didn't seem all the right. Maybe she'd wake up and it'd all just be a twisted dream that had happened if, let's say, she got hit by another bat and landed herself in the hospital.

Steve nodded stiffly and sent one last glance at Emilee - was that hopefulness she saw? - before leaving the room. The dark eyed girl heaved a sigh she hadn't noticed that she'd been holding.

"Peter," she murmured, "Go to school. I'll... We'll talk later." She kissed his cheek and nudged him off. With a last half-hearted smile from both of them, Emilee's big brother left, leaving her to her upset thoughts and a room that seemed colder than before.

* * *

Emilee was extremely uncomfortable, to say the least. She was just barely getting used to the Rogers-Stark 'household', and all she really wanted was to have a real family. A certain Anthony Edward Stark wasn't exactly helping, with all the time that he spend in his lab. Steve tried to spend time with her all the time, and she just let him which led to awkward silences and uneasy shuffling around. Might as well spend as much time with anyone.

And of course, there were those lonely days or nights where Peter and their... fathers went to go save a part of the world being attacked, and Emilee was left alone. Many a times she hid under her bed to keep from seeing anything. Or rather, as she liked to tell anyone who asked, to keep from _being_ seen and killed by a blast from a villain. Like now.

The Avengers had gone off, very vaugely telling her that they needed to go and New York was being attacked again, blah blah blah. Peter had snuck out again in his Spidey suit, and she saw him at one point when he shot her a peace sign while being stuck to one of her bedroom windows.

As she huddled under her bed, Emilee had the feeling she was being watched. And being watched she was.

Forcing her tightly shut eyes open, the girl gasped to see a very handsome man staring back sideways at her with just the hints of a smile at his lips.

"Hello there," he said quietly, gently. The undertone was chilly, though, and set an armada of butterflies aflutter in Emilee's stomach, and none of those giddy-happiness ones.

"Hello," she whispered, as there wasn't much else she could do. He slipped a pale hand under the bed and in front of her face, and like a fool, she took it.

The man pulled her out and rose to stand, as did she. Now, Emilee was able to appreciate how good-looking the man really was, with his regal facial features and inky black hair that contrasted prettily against his skin. He had a golden helmet with two thin spikes from the top like antenae, a green cape, and other-worldly black armor. Emilee struggled to place a name to this now familiar face, yet failed to when he smiled.

It was so cold and so horrible and yet so wonderfully breath-taking that Emilee could impossibly feel all the blood draining from her face and coloring her cheeks all at the same time.

"Poor child," the man sighed, stroking her cheek. Emilee was frozen to the spot, muscles tightened to the point she couldn't move. Her eyes flicked to the man's hand for a moment before returning to those dark eyes glimmering with mischief. "Being left all alone here."

"I wouldn't be left here if I was a superhero, too," she whispered. Any sarcasm, any snappy retorts, any boldness or brashness she acquirred was gone at the moment, and all the girl was reduced to was a quiet child. "I wish I was like them."

The man's icy smile grew. "Oh, those heroes. Thinking they're saving the world when really, all they're doing is making things worse like beasts."

Emilee's hand, which the man still hadn't let go of, twitched. "You don't know them personally, do you?"

The man's face wilted into a sad look. "One of them, yes. He's my brother. Causing destruction and acting before giving anything a second thought, if one at all."

"Oh," was all she could say. "What's your name?"

"My name is not of importance right now, but yours is."

"Huh?" Emilee blinked before she understood. A little more life returned to her. "Oh uh, my name is Emilee."

"And you wish to have powers?" he asked. The girl nodded. "Then I can help you."

"I want to talk to my brother first," Emilee blurted. She inwardly kicked herself. _Well, there goes a potential chance._

He pursed his thin lips. "I see."

Then he glanced out the window at the raging battle between the Avengers and a large hoggish beast walking on two legs. "I must leave, but I assure you that I will return."

Emilee had the urge to look out the window, and so she did. And when she turned back around, the man was gone, and the girl very disappointedly returned under her bed. She wouldn't tell anyone. Not yet.

Her eyes grew, and then, suddenly, she wanted to destroy something, as the name flowed like poison in her mind.

Emilee covered her eyes. "Loki."

* * *

When everyone came back, they were all exhausted and not all too keen on Steve's bright idea for a dinner. It was suppost to be something of a family night. And by family he meant everyone: the Avengers, Peter, her, and even Dum-E and JAVIS(though Tony refused to bring Dum-E out and near Thor as a safety precaution towards his 'baby'). Emilee was hoping to see Director Fury, though she knew it was a lost cause.

So there they were, all eight of them, sitting in the living room on the sofa, loveseat, with Emilee and Peter on the floor.

Emilee was completely engrossed in _Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol_, even though she said she'd seen it before with her friends on a huge movie gathering and then again when they had a free period for the whole sixth grade one Friday at school.

Peter snickered softly, and playfully jabbed a finger in Emilee's ribs. The girl simply grunted in response. "Do you really like that movie or are you just interested in Tom Cruise?" he joked.

Emilee shot him a sarcastic smile and snorted. "Both. Cruise is _hot_. 's sad that he got divorced, though."

"But that gives you a chance to - ACK!" Peter didn't have any warning before Emilee tackled his side and was poking him like a machine gun with the trigger continually pressed down with duct tape.

"SHUT UP PETER!"

Tony raised an eye at them and then looked up at Steve, who had him cuddled in his lap and arms. Steve just shrugged and kissed the top of his husband's head before sitting up to move him off of his lap.

"Hey, why don't we play a game?" Steve spoke. Tony paused the movie and fiddled with a loose thread on Steve's shirt.

Emilee and Peter stopped tearing each other apart to meet eyes. But before they could say anything, JARVIS, the goddamn AI, beat them to it.

"I lost the game."

"JARVIS!" Emilee screamed. "I SWEAR I WILL - "

Tony cackled at the content that spewed out of his daughter's mouth and Steve's eyes widened in horror as he slowly slipped his hands over his ears.

Covering his sister's mouth with one hand, Peter laughed nervously and turned to the other Avengers. Thor had joined Tony, laughing heartily while Clint snickered. Bruce just seemed a little bored and Natasha... well, you can't really tell.

"How 'bout we play beerpong? Or the alcoholic version of Bullshit?" Tony suggested. Emilee's eyes lit up, then dulled when Steve shot the idea down.

"No alcohol involving Emilee, Tony," the blonde told his husband and daughter. The two looked a little dejected.

"Why NOOOOOOOT?" they whined.

"For obvious reasons, Tony," Bruce snorted. "We're not going to turn her into a younger clone of you."

Thor chuckled. "IN ASGARD, IT IS ONE OF MANY RITES OF PASSAGE TO PARTAKE IN THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. DAUGHTER OF STARK AND ROGERS, I BELIEVE IT IS ALL WELL FOR YOU TO DRINK, AND INVITE YOU TO JOIN ME TOMORROW NIGHT!" he boomed. Emilee looked ecstatic, her pupils dialating.

"YES!" The girl fistpumped excitedly, when she felt a large hand on her shoulder. It basically covered it all, and then some. She looked up, smile dropping when she saw Steve staring down at her with pursed lips.

"Emilee," he began softly. "No."

The brunette scowled and sighed. "Fine." Then she grinned, taking a step forward and turning around to face everyone as Steve sat back down with Tony. "But we get to play some games that _I_ want," she said.

Natasha raised a finely plucked brow. "Like?"

"Truth or Dare, Would You Rather, Spin the Bottle." She ticked off the three with her fingers.

"But Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle could get..." Peter struggled for a few fitting words. "Awkward? Weird? Pedophilic?"

"Is that a word?" Emilee asked, plopping down on the wooden floor. "'Pedophilic'?"

Peter shrugged. "Dunno."

Emilee turned to Tony, biting the inside of her bottom lip. "..." Tony raised an eyebrow, and she took a breath. "Daddy?" The 'Man of Iron''s(as Thor would put it) eyes widened a little in surprise and blinked. "Are you alright with sharing" - she coughed - "Papa? When we play?" Steve gaped and choked a little on his saliva , and Emilee cleared her throat.

"'Papa'?" he whispered. His voice sounded a little weak, but at the same time pleased.

Tony coughed. "'Daddy'?"

Emilee fidgited uncomfortably. "Can - Can we just play?" She glanced around and grabbed the first cup she could see, knocking back the rest of the contents. She gagged when it stuck in her throat and burned, grabbing her neck and launching into a coughing fit. Thor laughed loudly.

"It's Asgardian mead," Bruce muttered. Clint snickered and thwacked Emilee a few times on the back.

"You alright?" Emilee only took in a sharp breath of air, flopping on the floor as she flipped the archer the bird.

When she finally recovered and curled herself in a ball, Thor boomed in laughter. "LET US PLAY THESE GAMES YOU SPEAK OF!"

"Thor," Steve said quietly, placing a hand on the Asgardian's shoulder. "What did we talk about?"

Thor's grin slowly melted. "WHEN WE'RE INSIDE, I MUST USE MY INSIDE VOICE."

"And where are we?"

"Inside..."

Steve nodded. "Thank you, Thor."

"IT LOOKED LIKE APPLE JUICE!" Emilee wailed from her spot on the floor, voice strained and cracking at some points. "THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOST TO KNOW THAT IT WAS ALCOHOL? !"

Steve sighed. "Language," he said gently. "Mind your language."

Emilee sat up and giggled. "Let's play Spin the Bottle!" She grabbed the now-emptied cup that was once Thor's and placed it on the floor.

"No, Emilee. This is weird," Steve groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. "You're eleven, we're adults. And Tony and I are _married._ So are Natasha and Clint."

The girl released a long-suffering sigh and fell onto her back. "Fine." Then her eyes sparkled, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Maybe not those kinds of games, but..." Emilee grabbed Peter. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A GAME OF STARCRAFT!"

Her brother shook his head. "Don't have it. Haven't gotten around to downloading it yet."

Emilee narrowed her eyes. Peter could see that she was a little over tipsy. "League of Legends, I won't take no for an anwer. I know you have it. I saw you playing."

_Shit_.

"I call Amumu," Peter grinned. Emilee frowned.

"I never took you as a Tank kinda guy," she said thoughtfully. Then she shrugged. "Ashe. Been using her forever. I'm more of a Range person, myself."

"You're going _down_, Emilee," Peter growled playfully, poking his sister in the ribs. "I'll be the hero, I swear."

The girl snorted. "Tell that to the Bots that'll kill your ass off!"

"Nah, that's all you," Peter chuckled. "So what are the rules?"

Emilee flailed her arms. "Uhm, no KS, no spamming, respect the other player, etc."

Peter nodded. "That's fair."

Emilee turned and ran up the stairs, returning with a Razer Nostromo gaming keypad, a thin, black keyboard, a gaming computer, a mouse, and a large pair of red headphones stacked in her arms. "I'm going to warm up. Maybe we can play Combat Arms later." Her head was still pretty foggy, but she wouldn't lose to her older brother. Her pride wouldn't allow it.

"Jarvis, set up digital screens that'll subsitute for monitors," Tony commanded. Three light blue rectangles popped up in front of Peter and Emilee. Emilee jolted a little, but when the light blue screen in front of her took the image of her laptop and her computer went dark, she calmed down a little. "Make Peter's screen interactive."

Tony's face split into a large grin. "Let's place bets on who will make the most kills."

"Tony-" Steve was ignored as the other Avengers began to take money out of various places on their persons, voicing their choice of Peter or Emilee.

Tony. "Peter." Two thousand dollars.

Thor. "PETER!" Fourteen dollars and thirty-two cents.(He'd spent most on PopTarts.)

Natasha. "Peter." Seven hundred fifty.

Bruce. "Peter." Four hundred twleve.

Clint. "Emilee." Matches Natasha's bet. Emilee smiles weakly, though never takes her eyes off the blue screen that seems to follow in her gaze; at least _one_ person is betting on her.

Steve hesitates and Tony nudges him. "Come on, Capsicle," he teases. "Just bet this one time!"

Emilee twitches. "Peter." Steve only puts a fifty, but no one says anything.

"Let's begin," Emilee says clearly. Her voice is cold and business-like, words are clipped. She's upset. "I'll kick your ass all the way through Narnia and back."

Peter flinched at his sister's tone. "Yeah... Let's start."

* * *

"Smug bastard," Tony muttered as Clint collected all the money they'd put down.

"Three thousand, nine hundred seventy-six dollars and thirty-two cents." Clint grinned.

Emilee still wasn't smiling. "You owe me twenty-five percent."

"What?"

Peter shrugged and slipped his headphones off his ears. "It's only fair."

Hawkeye frowned, but it soon turned into a smirk. "Alright. You'll get your twenty-five if you can find the correct amount without a calculator or -"

"Nine ninety-four and eight cents." Emilee stared blankly out one of the glass walls that looked over the city. "Pay up."

She turned her head slightly and fixated a cold stare on the male assassin. "What? Never seen a person divide in their head before?" She snorted. Her feelings were still a bit touchy.

Clint just chuckled good-naturedly and split the bills and coins(thanks, Thor...) and placed them next to her. She took it, slipped it in her pocket, and gathered her stuff. She made her way up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door.

Downstairs, Steve laughed nervously, half-heartedly. "So much for a bonding family night."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, this was_ such _a good idea."

Peter licked his bottom lip. "I'll go talk to her."

* * *

"OH MY - WHAT ARE YOU DOING? !" Peter screamed.

Emilee's face was as hard as stone as she basically tore her room apart. Peter noticed she kicked them, punched them, destroyed them as if they were people. And she stayed away from her desk of electronics and her closet. Didn't hit the door of it or the walls near it. He'd have to see why later.

"Emilee!"

The girl turned and glared and him. "What?"

"Why are you doing this?" Peter really was shocked by the scene. Everything was messed up, and she hadn't been in Stark Tower(Tony calls it Avenger's Tower, since they all live there) long enough to be in school yet. It was Friday. A couple more days.

Emilee turned her heated eyes to the floor and stared holes into the floor. "I don't like being underestimated."

Peter shook his head and cautiously made his way over to her, gently putting his arms around her. Her back was to his chest and Peter pressed his lips to the top of her head. "That's not the real reason." Emilee lifted a hand and squeezed one of Peter's. She didn't answer for a minute or two.

"I don't belong here. You and I both know that. With the rest of them downstairs..." A half-choked sigh passed through her lips. "Maybe I should just take a plane back home to LA."

Peter hugged her tighter. "You'll be fine, Em. Just..." He paused. "Try to fit in more?" Emilee took the hand she was holding and playfully nipped her brother's skin. "Sorry, bad choice of words." Peter bit his lip. "Loosen up? Pretend you've been living with them for years."

Emilee snorted and shimmied out from under her brother's embrace. "Easier said than done, Pete." She sighed, threading her fingers in her hair. "I think I'll go to bed early, bro." The disappeared into her bathroom, and Peter took it as his time to leave.

But not without checking her closet first.

* * *

"I'm serious!" Peter laughed, waving his arms around as he faced his fathers. "She had all this stuff of you guys! And, like, she had this whole section just of pictures she took when you guys were around LA!" He chuckled. "And a few broken off parts of Dad's suit that she put back together, too!"

Steve gaped at his son and Tony snickered. "Really?" the genius chuckled. "I'll have to check it out myself when she goes to school on Monday."

Steve seemed to recover, but only enough to work his jaw properly. He turned to his husband and frowned lightly. "Where are you sending her, anyways?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm thinking of sending her to maybe that one private school, the one in Brooklyn?"

Steve shook his head. "Keep her very nearby, Tony. Somewhere here in New York City."

"Okay, um..." He sighed. "Jarvis, give me a list of all the nearby public and private schools of the highest rating."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's see... Loyola?" Steve suggested.

Tony frowned. "Does she _have_ a religion?"

Peter shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Maybe we'll just send her there?" Steve asked. Being a Christian himself(though being a homosexual, kinda, well. Yeah.) gave him the thought of sending her to a Christian/Roman Catholic/etc. school. "She'll get a good education."

"Should we let her decide, instead?" Peter asked. "She might have a good one in mind." He stood up and kissed his parents goodnight. "I'll ask her tomorrow."

When their son was out of sight, Steve let out a long sigh. "Well, this night didn't exactly go as planned." Natasha was suffering from Clint's gloating, and since she didn't dare tell Clint to go bother Bruce, the redhead had to put up with it. Thor was fast asleep, dreaming of coffee and Poptarts.

Tony grunted. "Could've been worse."

Steve pursed his lips. "Let's go to bed." The blonde almost regretted his choice of words when a lecherous grin spread across the brunette's face.

"Yes, Steve, let's _go to bed,_" he purred.

Hm... Maybe this night wasn't too bad after all. For two people, at least.

* * *

Emilee couldn't sleep. She was plagued by thoughts of Loki, and his charming smile and regal facial features. Every time she tried to convince herself that she wouldn't fall into his trap, whatever it was, the image of his gorgeous smile flooded her thoughts. She sighed.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

* * *

Peter grinned giddily in his sleep as thoughts of his cotton candy covered boyfriend drifted into his dreams.

_Wade_...

* * *

_LE GASP. IT IS FINALLY FINISSSHED! xD I know, it's boring right now. But starting next chapter, we slip into Emilee's POV :)_

_I don't even know why I put that last bit in :I _Some_ kind of fluffishness?_

_Review please! xD_


	3. Braving the First Day of Death

_The school's entirely made up xD So yeah. It sounds weird and DEFINATELY out of place, but meh. Sue me :heart:_

_I can't wait for September 25 ;A; Avengers on Blu-Ray!~ I can watch it then~_

_My friend's brother's girlfriend told me that she was surfing through Tumblr and saw a picture of a crowd watching the _Avengers _in 3D, and in the beginning, you know how the first thing you see is Chris Evan's __amazing__ ass? A middle aged man was reaching out to touch it xD BEST THING EVAR._

_This story will really pick up in chapter four :3 So stick around till then... Oh, and last chapter? Loki has been removed from the plot and placed in scraps :P He plays a part much much much much later, possibly in the sequel._

_Also, is _anybody_ really reading this? Drop me a review if you are D: I feels alone..._

* * *

3. Braving the First Day of Death

_Emilee_

* * *

I woke up Monday morning with the feeling of the slightest twinge of dread. Not just because it's Mon-fucking-day, but that it was the first day of school.

I groaned and literally rolled out of bed and onto the floor. I'd refurnished my room a little over the weekend, so now, a very plushly rug lay on the hard wood next to my bed.

There was a tapping at my door and I moaned loudly in a wordless grant of permission to enter.

Peter poked his head through the door. Huh. I thought he'd crawl again.

"Emilee, breakfast's ready," he announced. "I'll _try_ to save you some food, but by the way Pops and Thor eat, you might have to eat stale Cheerios if you don't hurry."

"What's to eat?" I rasped, reaching up to grasp the side of my bed. I pulled myself up and just kinda... flopped there, half standing and half smashing my face into the comforter.

"Um, waffles and - "

I shot up, and in my rush into the bathroom, ran into the wall next to it. "SAVE SOME FOR MEEEE!"

"I'll save you two," Peter called. I all but slammed the bathroom door, tearing at my pajamas in a frenzy to get into the cold water and finish my shower as quickly as possible to get to my precious waffles.

Shivering but wide awake, I brushed my dripping hair out and pulled on a pair of worn, baggy jeans, a black and white studded belt, a black wifebeater, and a white sweatshirt with the 'ALL THE THINGS!' meme guy on the front. I grabbed a cute pair of long, turtle faced socks and snatched the seven black ponytails from my desk and slipped them on my right hand, pushing them to my wrist to put on my black and red G-Force watch. On my left hand was my silver charm bracelet with a rip-off Oreo, double-sticked red popsicle, artist's pallet with a rainbow of paint, a silver faux-diamond studded treble clef, and a blue althletic shoe.(What can I say? I like things on my wrists to fiddle with.) A gold-painted chain with a weird magenta symbol was my necklace, and I adored it with all my life. My foster parents had said that they'd found it on my chest when I was dropped off at their house.

I took the large hair clip from my bedside table and pinned my hair up, fixing my bangs and taking my geek chic glasses. Glancing with distaste at the teal and green plaid Jansport backpack laying next to my Sharpie decorated messenger bag, I decided that I wouldn't even go near the thing. It'd been sent by... _someone_, I didn't know who, and if it wasn't my 'parents' or someone I knew, I didn't want it. I nudged it with my foot and shouldered my messenger, heading to the stairs.

I put on my turtle socks and glasses and shuffled to the stairs, and nearly cracked my head on the wall when I slipped. I heard Peter's laugh from the bottom of the stairs.

"You didn't see anything!" I yelped as my socked feet lost its footing and I almost fell again.

"Sure, sure," Peter chuckled. He waved me down. "Two waffles left. Chocolate."

I nearly faceplanted in my dash to the kitchen, just barely able to right myself. "Those fucking waffles are mine!" I crowed, sliding on the smooth floors.

There they were, two fluffy, golden waffles, dotted with chocolate chips, ready for me to devour with syr-

And then they were gone and down Thor's throat. I silently cursed and slumped.

"I guess I'm buying Starbucks today," I sighed. Peter tossed me two packages of s'more flavored Poptarts.

"Let's go before Thor eats those, too," he advised as he took a pack of strawberry Poptarts for himself.

I nodded and stepped over to Steve, taking his empty hand in both of mine and squeezed gently. "See you later, Papa." Tony was down in his lab already.

Steve smiled warmly at me and squeezed back. "Alright, love. See you later." He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and a fluffiness like sun-warmed cottonballs bloomed in my abdomen. I grinned and took after Peter, footsteps light and springy.

He chuckled and took a five from his pocket. "You can pay me back later for your Starbucks."

I shook my head with a small smile. "I'm good." Then a devious smile grew on my lips. "But want some candy. Sour gummies."

Peter ruffled my hair. "After school. We need to get you to your own."

My stomach dropped to the floor. School. I'd forgotten. I swallowed thickly and grasped my brother's hand tightly. "S-Sure..."

* * *

Peter had walked me to school and had even held my hand while he walked alongside another guy, his boyfriend, who I was introduced to named Wade Wilson, who turned out to be Deadpool. I squealed over this one, too, but not as much as I did for Peter.

The school that I chose, Takahashi Private Elementary and Highschool for the Gifted(East USA Division), was made up of four main, three sub, and other class buildings. The campus was absolutely huge, with archery and shooting ranges and horse stables and, well, anything one could ever think of. This place was more like a summer camp, really.

Any butterflies that had disappeared earlier had returned in evolved versions the size of a goddamn Garados.

The middle(and the biggest) building was what seemed to once be brick walls, graffiti'd quotes decorating the whole length and width of the four stories. The rooms with windows, four windowpanes to each of the thirty-two side spaces, were uniquely decorated, some more than others. I spotted some yellow 'DANGER' tape, wooden boards, frosted glass, a set with miniatures lining the inside of the windows(on the windowsils, sides, and top). Some of them, however, were completely bare. I guessed those to be empty. This, the commons building, contained the mess hall, offices, teacher's lounge, and infirmary.

The one to the left of it was a _very _large two-story Victorian/Gothic Revival building of dark stone that was crafted like a castle, with what I was sure to be student works of intracate designs carved into the pillars of the gray stone awning-like structures. Fitted into it's almost obelisk-shaped windowpanes were gorgeous stained glass portaits done by students that had attended when the school was renovated just a few years before. It looked a lot like Hyrule Castle in _Ocarina of Time_ when Ganondorf took over. This is the _'Rosa Scriptor Spina'_(1), or 'The Rose's Thorn'. This structure belonged to the geeks and rebels, the more creative of the bunch, my people. I'd wanted to be in this group for ages, and now that I had the tuition for it, I was ecstatic!

The building to the right was made completely out of aqua colored glass and stainless steel, polished and gleaming in the sun. It looked more like a business building, without almost all of the height. It was only five stories tall, and a little thinner than _Rosa Scriptor Spina_ so that they both had about the same square footing. _'Speculum Filter__'_, or 'Glass Filter'(Not too creative), was for the preps, athletes, and some of the dancers more into ballet and shit like that.

There was one building in the back of all the main and sub buildings that basically contained all the scientists, mechanics, the like. It was a lot bigger than The Rose's Thorn and The Glass Filter, and was much more private. Ten floors of re-enforced iron, steel, titanium, and even a little diamond with a huge basement divided into about five rooms for those who could afford the expensive workplaces. This was simply named 'Alloy', just because it sounded cool. Weird, but I agree. Alloy's a pretty fuckin' cool word.

Behind the main building stood a tower that was painted black and white, with six different colored symbols decorating the edges of the entrance like a border. A yellow triangle with eight longer triangles jutting out like rays of the sun(Hikari/Light); a very light lavener(it looked very faded even though it was brand new and sparkling like the rest) pair of orbs with tails that looked like snakes in an endless chase for the other end(Iki/Breath); two red diamonds with two spikes going diagnonally so that it looked like comets skidding past each other(Shinryaku/Aggression); a couple of blue water drops going up and down, with a heart spilt in two and moved so that it looked like little more than the water drops though these were still connected(Seikatsu/Life); a violet ball with two tails moving in opposite directions on both top and bottom(Shitsumei/Blindness); a green octagon with spikes coming out from the top and sides like a hedgehog(Azen-sei/Safety). This is the InterBuilding, which is basically the dorm for those who are required/want to live on campus. Not all, but most scholarship students were picked from other countries, and had no other place to stay.

I pulled my very favored necklace out of my sweatshirt for a moment to confirm that, _holy crap _yes, the pendant _was _a Shitsumei symbol. I stuffed it back in and hoped no one would notice.

Two much comparitively smaller buildings stood next to the InterBuilding, both three stories. They were painted with a mural on each wall. The right building's roof was painted red, the left painted blue, and they were called 'Houses'. The 'Red House' was the rec room, and the 'Blue House' was closed most of the year except for school party events.

A greenhouse, some clubhouses, and other extra places were scattered around campus. It's pretty easy to get lost here, so Peter's first suggestion before he took off was to find a friend who knew the school grounds inside out.

So there I was, standing stupidly in front of the commons building's double doors, looking like an idiot while I fingered the hem of my sweatshirt. I slipped off my bracelet and put it in the front pocket of my backpack, switching my G-Force to my left wrist in place of the jewelery. My black hairbands freely occupied the spot where my watch was with no problemo. My eyes never strayed from the door.

I felt a tentative hand on my shoulder and I turned to find a person's face quite close to mine. Like, move-forward-just-a-bit-and-you'd-be-kissing close. No no no no, that will not do.

I jumped back, stumbling over the heels of my full-black Converse and almost falling on my butt. Not the most attractive thing ever, but hey, this guy was _cute_!

And not that seriously childish, nerdy-shy cute that made me fall in love with Matt back home, but this gorgeous althetic look, with trademark spikey blonde hair. The only thing away from the sterotype were a pair of forest green eyes.

"I'm Tyler," the boy grinned, sticking a hand out. "I'm guessing you're new here?"

To recover, I slipped into sarcasm. Ah, yes, sarcasm. The thing that had basically kept me alive in California.

My eyes widened exaggeratedly and my mouth hung open. "Ah em gee, HOW DID YOU KNOW?"

Tyler chuckled and I took his hand with a 'I'm Emilee', gripping his hand tightly around his knuckles and smirking when I saw his wince at the painful ache that came from grinding his knuckles together. "Ah, lucky guess." He laughed a bit nervously, shaking out his hand. "You were just staring at the doors."

I shrugged. "I have no idea where I'm suppost to go. I just arrived in New York like, literally a few days ago." I cocked my head to the side. "And lemme guess; you're from Glass Filter?"

Tyler shakes his head and laughs. Hm. Does he find everything funny or what...? "Everyone thinks that. But no." He smiles. "Rose's Thorn."

My eyebrows rose. "Really?" I made a sound in an 'I see' tone. "Guess the saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover' doesn't lie."

"I don't know about that one," Tyler said. "But it'd be best not to get on anyone's bad side here. Chances are that they'll all gang up on you." He pulled an invisible cape around him, bringing it across his face. "We're like freakin' mafia families!"

I snorted and shoved his arm slightly. "Whatever, Dracula."

Tyler dropped his arm. "It's true! But it's pretty rare, since we keep mostly to our own groups. Only a few people go to the different buildings, and that's usually only if they have friends in that division, or they're incredibly stupid."

I blinked. Okay? "Oh, by the way, can you be my guide? I get confused really easily."

"Sure."

As we followed corridors and turned in to new hallways, inching along in the sea of people, I poked Tyler's arm. "Hey, I have a question." Tyler grunted. "Why did you say it's stupid of the people who go to different groups?"

Tyler sighed and pulled me a little bit closer to him as we squeezed through a few people before letting go. There was still about an hour before school started, but people often came extremely early. This school was like a second home to them, really. "Because the last time a few people from all three teamed up, the school was so damaged that it took almost a decade to rebuild some of the stuff. They were expelled immediately for intentionally trying to detonate a 'small' bomb." Tyler made air quotes with his fingers.

Ah. 'kay, I see now. I hummed as Tyler finally nudged me into an office with a rainbow door. Cool.

The woman at the desk, a cherry-redhead with freckles splattered across her nose and cheeks, glanced up at us and lifted a hand for a fistbump from Tyler. She couldn't have been much older than twenty five.

"Hey, Ty," she greeted. A devious grin spread across her face, hazel eyes lighting with mischief as her eyes flicked between us. She poked Tyler in the ribs teasingly. "Ty! You never told me you got a girlfriend!"

Tyler blushed. "She's not my girlfriend, Maria!"

I flailed my arms. "Yeah! I mean, he's really cute but I'm not his girlfriend!" Tyler's blush reddens. Hey, I'm not one to lie about stuff like that!

The receptionist - Maria - chuckles. "Alright, whatever." She smiles at me. "So what're you here for, honey?"

I cringe. I'm not sweet. I tell her this and she laughs again. Huh. She and Tyler can be siblings, if only by their laugh. "Call me Emilee. And um..." I open the flap of my messenger and pull out a thick navy folder. I'd been doing paperwork with Peter for the whole weekend, and I was tired of it. I'd tried to burn it at one point. "I wanna turn in my registration papers."

Maria frowned. "You _do_ know that you were suppost to turn these in almost a month ago, right?"

I scrunched my mouth to the side. "I haven't been in New York very long, really. I got here, what, Moday, I think?" I shake my head. "Paperwork sucked _ass_." I slapped a hand over my mouth, voicing a muffled 'Sorry'.

Maria just rolled her eyes with a smile. "No worries; we do a lot of whatever shit we want around here." She looked stern for just a moment. "But one of the few easy rules: No streaking." I laughed and Tyler facepalmed. Maria ran her gaze down the first page of the documents. "No problemo. You can start today. We process this stuff really fast."

Maria handed me a couple sheets of paper and a pen and pointed to a small table in the corner of the office by a couple of dark blue plastic chairs. "These are your schedule sheets. Go ahead and fill them out there and I'll print a couple copies for you and give you your stuff." Her eyes turned to me again. "Are you dorming?"

I shook my head. "Not this year."

"Alright..." I sat down with Tyler at the wooden desk, glancing over the empty boxes and their labels and x'ing in the boxes when Maria tapped her own desk. "Is locker 6729 alright with you?" Her voice sounded a little too nonchalant.

"Yeah..." I mumbled distractedly. Tyler stiffened.

He lifted his head to look at her, bothered. "Come on, Maria, that's not funny."

"It's alright, Tyler," I said.

"No, Emilee, you really don't want Locker 6729!" he tried again, voice attempting to mask the tone of pleading.

Maria sighed. "It's really the only locker left in The Rose's Thorn, Ty."

Tyler frowned. "How do you know she's going to be in - "

"I'm going to be in The Rose's Thorn, Tyler," I muttered. "Can't stop me. Not even some stupid superstitions or curse stories or blah." I stood up and handed the schedule papers to Maria, taking the maps of the school and location and combination of my locker.

_'27, 13... 66? WHAT THE FUCK...?'_

I shot a suddenly weary look at Maria, who avoided my gaze and continued to click away at her computer. What combination lock goes that high? ! Tyler sent me a look that clearly said 'See?'

After a good minute of silence, sans Maria's typing, the receptionist held out three copies of my schedule. "Here you go, Emilee."

I took the sheets and looked them over. I hadn't used 'Rogers-Stark as my surname, as that would draw attention. Peter had convinced me to just use my old last name instead of creating a new one.

_Name: Emilee Stony_

_Alliance: The Rose's Thorn_

_Main Lifestyle: Art_

_School Year: First, JH_

_Student Type: K_

_Student ID: 67294023_

_8:00 AM: Homeroom - Room 302, Ms. Obsidian_

_9:00 AM: Creative Writing - Room 138, Mrs. Kunoshi[M/W], Reading - Room 261, Mr. Venn[T/TH]_

_10:30 AM: Social Studies - Room 131, Ms. Lee[M/W], Math - Room 132, Mrs. Ferrando[T/TH]_

_11:00 AM: Practical Arts - Room 500, Mr. Dela Cruz[M/W], Fabric Arts - Room 167, Ms. Nogaw[T/TH]_

_12:00 PM: Lunch_

_1:30 PM: Free Period_

_2:30 PM: English - Room 499, Mr. Payne[M/W], History - Room 412, Mr. Masa_

_3:30 PM: Music - Music/Auditorium Building, Mr./Mrs. Mohr[M/W], P.E. - Gym, Mrs. Kim[T/TH]_

_4:00 PM: Homeroom/Dismissal_

Tyler peered over my shoulder at the paper. He was still tense about my locker, and I kinda was too. I mean, what lock has up to 66?

"Oh, that's cool," he said, clearing his throat. "We have the same first two morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. I have Mr. Lunas for Homeroom, though."

I frowned at the sheet. "What about Friday?"

Tyler grinned. He seemed to be fine, now. "Friday's a free-for-all! We get to do whatever we want and the people who don't live on-campus can stay until six. Cool, huh?"

I smiled. "Yeah." I glanced down at my watch. 7:36. Still had plenty of time to get to class and figure out my locker. I looked up at the receptionist. "Thanks, Maria."

She winked at me. "No problem, Tyler's-soon-to-be-girlfriend."

We blushed and I stumbled, running after Tyler to get out of that office. "WE'RE NOT DATING!"

"That's why I said soon-to-be!"

* * *

I slumped the picnic table at lunch, letting out a loud, tired, drawn-out sound. "That was haaaard!" I complained. "I _hate _Social Studies! And Ms. Lee just won't stop talking!"

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

Eh... That was _kinda_ true. But not much. The only good things were that I stayed with Tyler most of the morning and I didn't have to use that dreaded Locker 6729 yet.

I glared at him before dropping my head back onto the smooth, plastic-covered surface of the table. "I got a fuckin' _D minus_ on our first assignment, which happened to be climates and vegetation and pre-fucking-cipitation and other Social Studies shit that I never payed attention to in sixth grade. What the hell!"

Tyler picked at his salad with his fork with distaste before ditching it to pick up his burger and take a large bite out of it. I raised my head just enough to take the salad he obviously didn't want. Tyler grunted.

"I want it," I told him, spearing a piece of lettuce drowing in the Ceasar dressing. All the 'salad' was, really, was just lettuce and diced tomatoes(which I picked out).

"But you need to eat more," he insisted. "You look, what, twenty pounds underweight?"

"Ten," I corrected, shoving the lettuce in my mouth. "And I'm small in the first place!" It's true. At that time, I was four-foot-eleven, with a petite, doll-like build and a very high metabolism, the last two which I still have.

"Weighing...?"

"Seventy."

"Where's _your _lunch, anyways?"

I bit another few pieces of lettuce. "I'll get after I eat this."

I glanced up from the salad to look at the other students. My eyes skimmed over a group of Glass Filters, fellow Rose's Thorns that were dancing to Daft Punk's 'Harder Better Faster Stronger', a few Alloys that had either been dragged by their friends to eat or that had crawled out of their chemical filled caves, forced to seek food for their malnourished bodies. I didn't pay too much attention to any of them.

Until my eyes landed on a stick thin boy with thick, wire-framed glasses and short, semi-wavy-straight hair sticking out in all directions. A couple notebooks, a laptop, and some No. 2 pencils lay on the table in front of him. He sat alone, fingers threaded in his dark brown hair.

I nudged Tyler, who was talking to three of his friends that had sat down to eat with us. When he turned to me, I jerked my head in the direction of the obvious Alloy. "Who's that?"

Tyler squinted at the Alloy, who sat almost all the way at the end of the picnic pavillion that spread in front of The Rose's Thorn, the commons building, and the Glass Filter. "I... Dunno. Never seen him before."

One of his friends, Marissa, a redhead that looked like a younger carbon copy of Maria but with a permanent pair of aviators and leather jacket, frowned and retied her hair with a acid green scrunchie as she looked. "Um... That's Kevin Bosch. He's in Physics and Chemistry with Brandon."

Brandon, a slightly pudgy Korean boy with short hair, slits for eyes, and rectangular glasses, was great at science. He'd even built a high-power water cannon. "He doesn't really leave his lab and lives on campus, so he goes without sleep for around three to four days. Five if he can get his hands on a lot of caffine."

Kevin. Nice name... I hope he's as cute as he sounds. It was almost as if he refused to look up, staring at his notebooks and pulling at his hair with his left hand, writing and occasionally smashing the part of his hand that the pencil wouldn't touch the paper with his right.

_Let me see those eeeeyessss..._

Christian, a Mexican guy with a crazy personality and a dirty sense of humor that I loved, waved a hand in front of my face. "You okay, Em? You've been staring at him for like, three minutes."

"Huh?" I tore my eyes away from Cute-Nerd-Boy to the group at our table. Tyler had moved to the other end of the table, and he grinned knowingly at me behind the backs of his other friends. The three stared at me, waiting. "OH! Um, I wasn't staring at _him_," I said. "I just spaced."

Marissa, who was also in The Rose's Thorn with Tyler and me, nodded. She'd seen me do it almost all throughout Social Studies and a couple times in Creative Writing when I was thinking. "Oh, okay."

Tyler looked down at the now-empty paper plate that once held two full servings of salad. He sent me a pointed look. "Emilee, go get food. Now."

"But - "

"They have ice tea and candy there," Brandon said. Didn't have to tell me twice.

I dug through my bag for my wallet and took out a twenty. Peter and I had finished the candy that I'd bought when I'd gotten lost when after I got off the plane.

I returned to our table with two cans of yellow Monster Rehab, two Arizona sweet teas, three lemon Arizona Peace Teas, a eight packets of sour gummies in a plastic bag that hung off my arm and a bowl of brocoli and cheese soup sharing a space on a plate of beef stroganoff. A white plastic fork and spoon was held between my teeth.

I stuffed the bag into my messenger and slid the soup and spoon to Marissa, who dissed the spoon and basically just drank the soup down. Hot soup. Like, scalding hot.

I watched her down the whole twenty-four ounce bowl curiously. "How the hell...?"

The boys shook their heads. "We've just stopped trying to ask," Christian sighed with a hint of exasperation.

I cracked open one of my Peace Teas and took a sip. "Alrighty then."

When we all finished eating and trashed our empty plates, bowls, cups, and utensils, we headed to the outdoor full basketball court when the warning bell sounded, about two-thirds of the students outside rushing into their buildings for class. Seven other guys were playing three-on-three, with one person(who looked quite annoyed) sitting out on the beige plastic bench as a sub.

"Hey!" I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth as we got nearer. We all had Free Period, and I needed to blow off some energy from my tea. "Six-on-six!"

The six males on the court stopped their game. The one I assumed to be their head captain, the brunette with a fucking custom _Lakers_ jersey(Like, WTF?) with '01' and 'MAZER' on the back, held the ball to his side with his forearm. He smirked at me.

"_You_ want to play?" he cackled. The other five players, except for the guy on the bench, copied him. "You're just a little girl!"

Now, you've got to understand that I've got a short fuse, and when I've had to go through Social Studies _right_ before lunch and Free Period, I didn't have too much spare patience.

I balled up my fists and glared up at this Mazer kid. Which would usually make me laugh since he was a good six inches taller(though it looked like he wouldn't grow much taller) had not I been so pissed.

"Look, bro, I can play as well as you can. No, stratch that, I can play _better_." Now there was a tauntingly collective 'OOOOOOH!' from everyone on the court. "_And_ I bet I can beat all of your friends, too."

"Emilee, I don't think this is a good ide - "

Mazer sneered at Tyler. "This your girlfriend, Hansen?"

I could feel Tyler's glare with almost as much intensity as mine. "Shut it, Mazer. She's not my girlfriend."

"Just a girl that can beat you and yer friends, seven to one. Unless, you know... You all suck," I challenged. Another round of 'OOOOH!'

Mazer turned his sneer to me. "What's your name, _little girl_?"

My expression melted into a smug one, a smirk playing across my face. "Emilee Stony, shit-face. Remember it, because it'll be the one you're screaming for mercy."

Mazer curled his lip. "You're _on_, Stony."

I pulled my sweatshirt over my head, my wifebeater riding up my stomach a little bit to reveal the bottom of the white bandage wrappings around my chest. It's more comfortable than an undershirt or whatever. But I cringed from inside the cover of my sweatshirt when I heard a wolf whislte at the sight of my flat, track-and-field and basketball toned stomach.

"Animals," I heard Marissa mutter as I tossed my pullover to Christian. "Overhormonal animals."

Mazer beckoned the guy on the bench forward to whisper something in his ear. The guy frowned but nodded nonetheless.

"Alright, first one to twenty points wins," Mazer announced. "It'll just be six-on-one, though, since Mark" - he pointed to Bench Boy - "will be counting the points."

Not fair. Favoritism.

I sighed, taking one of the hairbands from my wrist and putting my hair up int a high ponytail that'd stay off the back of my neck. "Whatever, Mazer. Ya better put yer money where yer mouth is."

Within half an hour, we were all dripping with sweat. More from humidity than from actual heat, though. Southern California was all dry heat, so it was easier for me to handle, but I just... can't deal too well with humidity. A killer migrane was working its way through my temples and back, since we hadn't stopped for a water break or anything. I was horribly dehydrated, my vision getting fuzzy.

But I was _almost there...!_

The points were tied eighteen-eighteen. I just needed to end the game with a dunk and I'd win. I would've finished it, too, if it weren't for the hands that grabbed my ankles and threw me to the side.

I smashed into the asphalt hard, skidding a good ten feet and horribly tearing up my right shoulder and arm that I held up to protect my head, a small patch on the side of my abdomen skinned.

"FOUL!" I screamed, picking myself off of the ground. I was slammed back down onto my back by a foot on my chest and a kick to my stomach, the back of my skull cracking against the blacktop. My vision split in two and shook, black spots exploding in my sight. Something hot and sticky rolled down the back of my neck and I'm sure that it wasn't sweat.

I saw Tyler's, Marissa's, and Christian's feet run off to get help. Brandon would make sure that I didn't die to quickly as he used his tae kwon do training to fight the other five off as they made their way to Mazer and me. He looked tired though, and I didn't blame him. Five at once is a lot.

Concentrating, I threw a punch somewhere in the middle of my sight, hearing the satisfying _'crack'_ of Mazer's nose. With a slightly bloodied grin(from a particularly rough hit to my abdomen, causing me to cough up blood) and veins pumping with adrenaline, I shoved Mazer off, kicking his chest with both feet. I climbed on his chest, pinning his arms to the ground with my knees and blinding landing punch after punch to his face. I missed a few times, scraping my knuckles on the ground, but every grunt and cry with every successful hit made up for it.

Until I heard a whistle pierce the air, cutting through my adrenaline high and giving my migrane a butcher's knife to hack at my overly-sensitive head.

I pressed my red-stained hands to my ears tightly, gritting my teeth and yelling loudly when Mazer pushed me off and on my torn up side.

"MAZER! STONY!" Fuck. Maria already had already given my documents to who looks like... Glance. The principal.

"Shiiiiiiit," I sighed, aiding Tyler and Marissa as well as I could when they rushed to my side and helped me up. "Shitshitshitshitshiiiit!"

"You got lucky that time, Stony!" Mazer spat while Bench Boy held his arms back.

"Eric, stop it already!" Bench Boy hissed.

"Shut up, Ted! I don't have to listen to you!" Mazer growled.

Bench Boy, or 'Ted', scowled. "I'm your older brother, Eric, I think you have to listen to me!"

We were all led to the nurse's office where we'd be taken care of _and _questioned.

As the nurse, a lithe man with auburn hair and sleepy gray eyes, disinfected my arm, shoulder, side, and other injuries and patched them up, I answered the principal's interogatives drowsily.

"... and then I started punching the crap outta him, then you came, and yeaaaaah..." I slurred. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I'd had a concussion and a cut to my temple before, and I knew I wasn't allowed to go to sleep.

The principal sent Mazer and me disapproving looks before shaking his head. "This is your first and last warning, Miss Stony."

"Yes, sir..."

"But as for _you_, Mister Eric Mazer, you won't get off so easily. It's no secret that you've harassed other students in the past, and you will be suspended for two weeks and the second you're back on campus, a restraining order will be filed against you. Is that clear?"

Eric scowled. "Yeah, whatever."

Maria was there in the nurse's office, too, sitting in the corner. She walked over to the wall phone, tapping away at her tablet until she came to my student file.

"I'll call your parents, Emilee," she said. "They'll want to hear about this."

I hoped and prayed that Steve and Tony were busy and Pepper would answer the phone instead.

But sometimes life just wants to royally screw you over.

* * *

Tyler had retrieved my things and promised to take down my assignments. (Not that there'd be too many on the first day of school.) Christian and Brandon cracked some jokes and tried to make me feel better. Marissa had draped my sweatshirt around me gently, a slightly forced smile on her lips as she gave a simple 'get better soon, Emilee'.

But the most fucked up part was that Steve came to pick me up.

He wasn't riding his motorcycle, thank Jashin, but the CCCA Classic 1940-1941 Lincoln Continental(1) still drew eyes to the scene.

He stepped out in all his handsome bishie sparkles, a set of keys in his right hand. He looked stern and yet at the same time extremely worried. He and Maria talked in low tones for a few minutes while Marissa helped me into the passenger's seat. Turned out that Maria and Marissa _are_ siblings.

My head lolled against the car window. I was just so exhausted and wanted to sleep... but Steve insisted that I get checked out my Bruce Banner before I drifted off. He handed me a black iPod that definately wasn't mine. I flipped it and looked at the peeling white label on the bottom. 'Peter'. Okay, I can live with that.

The ride was relatively silent, save for a few grunts when there was a particularly jarring bump in the road. Steve tried to make conversation, and I respected his intentions of trying to get closer to me, but I was just to banged up to want to do anything more than be lazy and sleep. Or maybe get high to the point that the world somehow morphs to look like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Not that I'd ever gotten high, but just think about all the stuff you see...

We pulled into the garage of Stark Tower in the middle of Mayday Parade's 'Black Cat'. Why does Peter have this on his iPod...? I never pegged him as a Mayday Parade fan.

I tugged the earbuds out and made a whining sound in the back of my throat. My consiousness had faded in and out during the ride, and even now darkness covered my eyes.

When I could see something other than black, I was laying on my bed, rebandaged and in a fresh set of clothes, courtesy of Dr. Banner. My whole right side was numb, and it felt as if it was detatched and was floating somewhere in the air. My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton balls.

"I see you're awake." My head drooped to the side for my gaze to follow Bruce. Steve was in a chair by my bed, his upper half sprawled on top of my legs. The corner of something white just barely peeked out from under his arm.

"Mhmm," I mumbled, eyes already almost shut again.

Bruce smiled and pointed to a bottle of water and a box of childrens' Tylenol. "Drink plenty of water and take a Tylenol or two if your headache comes back. Call me if you need anything, seeing as Tony has fallen asleep in his lab as always." Bruce rolled his eyes and waved his goodbye to me as he exited my room.

Carefully nudging Steve off my legs, I stumbled into the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water and shutting the door. I stripped out of the gray shortsleeve and navy blue gym shorts, peeled off the bandages and lowered myself into the steaming water, hissing when the water burned into my wounds.

I stayed in the tub for a good hour, almost nodding off in the bath a few times before I forced myself to get out.

Steve was gone when I entered my bedroom again. A sketch with mostly cleaned lines lay on my pillow.

I reapplied fresh bandages and slipped into a white wifebeater and black yoga pants, rubbing through my hair with my fluffy, maroon towel.

The sketch was of me in my sleep, hair fanning out on the pillow and lips slightly parted. I seemed calm and without pain. It reminded me of death, but you could tell that I was 'alive'. The picture _breathed_.

I set it on my nightstand, hanging my towel on the footboard of the bed. I crawled under the covers and snuggled into the blankets that still smelled like warm laundry.

I drifted off with the smell of lavender and the warm feeling of being burito-wrapped in a blanket lulling me to sleep.

* * *

_HOLY TURTLE SOCKS IT'S DONE. HUZZAH!_

_This is what I accomplished in three days with eight hours sleep total, nightmares relating mostly to _Majora's Mask/LoZ in general, Slender, _and_ _zombie apocalypses __cutting off most sleep. BLURGH. But I have the plotline written out up to chapter 11 :)_

_For the love of ducks please review? *puppy eyes* I PLEAD ON MY KNEES AND BEG OF THOU, READER!_

_LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN._

_~Kurami~_


	4. Confusion

_Special thank you to: _Amahila_, for praying for my nightmares, _DomoRhode_ for being my first ever reviewer and becoming my glomp friend, and all my other readers/favers/alerters xD_

_Disclaimer:(Holy turtle socks I forgot this in the past chapters D: This will be the one and only written disclaimer like this, though) I do not own the Avengers or any of Marvels superheroes. I only own my OCs and any other original ideas. And a new pack of 50 Crayola color pencils :heart: Oh and an Avengers lunchbox *squee*_

[break]

4. Confusion

Emilee

[break]

The next morning, I woke to the sound of pans clanking and blueberry waffles cooking in a waffle maker. AND COFFEE.

Now, I don't like the taste of coffee, because it tastes like absolute shit without all the good stuff, but, dude, have you _smelled it_? It's like... WOW.

I stumbled down the stairs with my hair a mess and all over the place, my glasses beginning to slide down the bride of my nose. My bandages were stained with a few spots of dried blood and I couldn't walk straight. The weightless feeling in my whole right side threw me off balance.

I plopped into one of the bar counter's stools, accepting the plate of eggs and turkey bacon slid to me. I looked up, eyes foggy, to see Peter's smiling face as he tapped a can of iced tea on the top of my head before setting it down. Vibrations hummed under my bare feet, Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' muffled by Tony's closed door to his lab.

"I thought he only played AC/DC?" I mumbled sleepily, leaning into the hand carding through my hair and combing it out. Glancing to the side, I saw Steve holding the morning paper in one hand and his other hand in my hair. Peter was rummaging through the fridge to pull out a jug of milk.

"Nah. He switches around a little," Peter shrugged. He poured himself a glass of milk and chugged half of it before grabbing the toaster strudels popping out of the toaster.

I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against the cool glass of the bar counter. The bass of the song was loud... But was that... was that a _piano_ in the background?

I slowly sat up but as soon as I'd heard it, it was gone. I shoved it aside and dug into my breakfast. Maybe it'd be back later.

[break]

Steve drove me to school since Peter had to leave a little earlier for some presentation.

Dressed in a blue Abercrombie tee, an orange-green reversible zip jacket, worn Levi's, and red Chucks with blue and white laces, I hopped out of the car, kissing Steve goodbye and waving over my shoulder as I started up the walkway.

My friends were at a picnic table. Tyler and Marissa were fiddling with a couple of Rubix cubes. Brandon was asleep on the table and Christian was doodling in a journal. I plopped down beside Tyler, who jumped in surprise. Marissa offered an amused smile and a quirking brow from beside her aviators. Brandon snored and Christian laughed.

My head smacked into the table top just as the warning bell rang. I groaned and Tyler chuckled, shaking my shoulder.

"Come on," he said, "Or we'll be late for class."

"Miss O doesn't mind us being a little late," I mumbled, waving my hand in the air.

"Yes, but Mr. Venn does," Marissa commented. "He, like, verbalises storms. LOOOUD."

"Ah, crap, I gotta go." Christian stood up, grabbing his red, yellow, and green woven bag. "I have to talk to my football coach before Homeroom."

Brandon yawned. "I want to check on my experiments," he said, waving goodbye as he jogged to the Alloy building.

Marissa checked her watch and sprinted for The Rose's Thorn. "Fuck! My Homeroom door's gonna close soon!"

"Tyler, why don't you just go ahea - AAH!" Tyler threw me over his shoulder and grabbed both of our bags. As he ran, I flopped around like a fish, forcing me to grab onto the belt loops on the back of his jeans. "Holy turtle socks! Tyler!"

He giggled – yes, _giggled_ - madly, sprinting for the double doors. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" I wailed, exaggerated. "WE'RE GOING TO DIIIIEEE!"

Tyler threw the door to Room 302 open, cackling like a mad man.

"Ty!" I whined, "Put me down!"

There were catcalls and yells of encouragement. "This girl... I like it!" Tyler raised me high over his head and I squealed.

"NONONONONONONO!"

"Another!"

Tyler made as if he were going to throw me on the stone flooring, but jerked me back up the second before my skull would have hit the ground. My neck snapped back and then was thrown forward on Tyler's shoulder, giving me whiplash.

There was a chuckle and a stifled smile from Ms. Obsidian, who stood behind her mahogany desk. "Mister Hansen, would you please set Miss Stony down? As much as I find this... _predicament_ amusing, you really should spare her the rest of her dignity."

I still clung to the blonde haired boy, with my legs wrapped around his waist an arms locked around his neck. My face was buried in his shoulder.

A few seconds of silence passed before the words sunk into my skull, and my head shot up, the backs of my head and Tyler's smacking together. There was a surprised and pained yelp, but I ignored the dull ache as I thrashed wildly. I looked like a retarded turtle-fish-worm-badger-without-legs.

"HOLY FUCKSHIT TYLER LET ME DOOOWWWN! MY DIGNITYYYYY!" I wailed, flapping my arms. The whole class was laughing, but I was more concerned about how high above solid ground I was. "DIGNITY, BITCH, DIGNITY!"

"I don't suppose you could save a few curses for later, Miss Stony?" Ms. Obsidian laughed. "You'll want to save some of the good insults for later."

I blinked and froze. However, my leg continued to fly up with momentum, and hit Tyler in the eye with my Converse. "FUCK!"

I looked over my shoulder and winced. "Sorry!"

In response, Tyler turned his head back to me and sent me a dry glare... then dropped me. "Oops. Sorry," he said carelessly. "My arms slipped."

I scowled at him and stood up, rubbing at my sore butt. "You didn't have to be so cold, _baka-yarou_."

Tyler made a face, steering me to the direction of our desks in the back of the classroom, playfully shoving my shoulders. "What the hell does that mean?"

I made graceful circle-y motions with my whole hand. "Idiot, moron, asshole, goose, fool - "

"'Goose'?"

I shrugged. "Meh. I'm not entirely proficient in Japanese."

I plopped down sideways in my seat, letting my legs stick out into the aisle. Ms. Obsidian didn't say anything, probably because she a) didn't care or b) I sat in the very back, near the windows, in a corner, so no one would pass by and trip.

Our HR teacher rolled her eyes, smiling. "Alright. Now, as a 'responsible teacher'" - she made air quotes with her fingers, more proof that she is one of _the_ most awesome adults EVER - "I have to dock points off of both of your citizenship grades for being late, but..." She glanced at her watch, pretending to not see me as I tucked in my legs and instead set them on the desktop. "I'm not exactly responsible, and no one stopped you in the halls so," - she shrugged - "Tough dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets to the superintendent or whoever cares about that stuff."

I grinned, slipping on some dark aviators(a get well gift sent from Marissa while I was recovering last night) and a girl next to me sneered. She was kinda pretty, actually. Y'know, if you take off all the makeup she caked on her face, thinking it'd make her look good. "You think you're sooo _precious_ to be able to make a scene, _Miss Stony_," she hissed in a whisper. "Well - "

I tipped my head down to look at her over the tops of my shades, holding up a hand to stop her. "Bitch please," I snorted. "You should be kissing my feet."

She looked pretty offended, like she might pull at her hair and scream. I usually wouldn't have done anything like that, normally would've shrugged it off, but today felt different. It held an excitingly positive air to it. Or maybe it was just some extra sugar in my waffles and somehow extra injected caffeine into my iced tea. I don't know.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled my skin, giving me the feeling I was being watched. I turned around to see only an empty window, and the feelings of eyes on me almost constantly moving.

I shrugged it off and fidgeted in my seat while I tried to pay attention to the morning announcements.

_It's probably nothing_.

[break]

I had just exited The Rose's Thorn, making a beeline for the commons building, when I was mobbed by kids from both The Rose's Thorn and Glass Filter, most laughing and cheering, a few from Glass Filter enraged.

"What the - " A million questions are asked at once, and my brain couldn't sort and pick out _any_ of them. I waved my arms around wildly, smacking people all around. "WAIT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!"

In thirty seconds, the crowd was reduced to about a tenth of its original noise. "Thank you. Now, um..." I poked a few random people. This little space I was in was beginning to get very hot and I couldn't breathe too well. "Why are you all mobbing me?"

One guy pushed his way to the front, grinning. "'Cause you beat up Eric!"

I frowned. Eric... Eric Eric Eric... Where was that name heard before? I wasn't sure of an 'Eric'... "Um..." I tilted my head to the side. "You mean Mazer?"

There was a collective 'WOAAAH' from many of the boys, who began yelling to each other things like 'Last name basis!', 'She's really cool! Like one of the guys!', and even a few 'Hot _damn_! Are you seeing this chick?' Uh... Yeah. I can't explain the last one, and I don't really think I want to understand to explain.

I ducked down, weaving and pushing my way through the tangled jungle of legs until I finally broke out of the large circle. I gasped for breath, stealthily crawling away to a table safe distance away from the throng.

I slipped into the table, reversing my jacket to its green side and zipped it, pulling the hood over my head(even though it was like, a bazillion degrees at the time and humid outside) and turning my back to the confused group of students.

"Where'd she go?" I heard a girl yell.

"She's over there!" a guy screamed. I braced myself and hoped for the worst... but it never came. I feel bad for whatever poor sap had the same jacket/similar hair/clothes that I did. She was probably very disoriented and scared. Oh wells.

I stood up and spun around, darting to the commons building so fast that I almost tripped over the picnic table seat. Once safely inside the cafeteria, I purchased a bottle of Green Machine Naked Juice, peanut butter Tiger's Milk bar, and a fuji apple.

I moved over to the table that our group sat at yesterday, munching on my apple as I waited for them. Five minutes later, Tyler rushed up to me, waving several papers in one hand and shoving a pen in my direction with the other.

"Sign - _wheeze_ - these for -_ wheeze _- Homeroom," he gasped out. "I -_ wheeze_ - need to get back -_ wheeze_ - for our -_ wheeze_ - project!"

I frowned, signing the last empty lines for signatures and initials without reading the actual paper. "What for?" I asked, pushing the papers back as Tyler took a swig from my Naked Juice.

"Marissa, Brandon, Christian and I are in a co-ed school volunteer thing, so we can't hang out for a couple months or so." Tyler winced. "We're _really_ sorry! We volunteered when we were in fourth grade and our turn came up this year."

I waved it off, masking the disappointment-burned hole in my stomach. "No, it's fine. Just go."

Tyler smiled sheepishly and ruffled my hair. I let out a groan of annoyance and fixed it. "You're the best, Emilee!" He turned and ran off in the direction of the InterBuilding, where the other three were waiting. They waved at me and I waved back half-heartedly.

I sighed, turning to my Tiger's Milk and ripping the plastic package open with my teeth, biting into the protein bar. I sipped my juice, finishing the rest of the protein bar in five bites, then starting on my apple. I choked on a giant chunk when a quiet voice spoke next to my ear.

"You're Emilee Stony, right?"

I pounded my fist on my chest, coughing until I could breathe. I moved a little to the right before turning in the direction of the voice. It was that one Alloy kid from yesterday.

"And you're Kevin something," I returned coolly. "I see you've heard about me."

He gave me a minute smile and stuck a hand out for me to shake. I took it and tightly squeezed his knuckles. He barely even winced. "Kevin Bosch." His smile grew. "And after that little stunt you pulled yesterday, I'd be surprised if there were still people who _didn't_ know you."

I nodded. "Ah. Cool." I smiled back lopsidedly. "So..." I gestured with my hands. "Need something?"

Kevin nodded and sat down, shrugging his backpack next to him and plopping his notebooks down. Leaning close, he spoke in a hushed tone, cupping his hands to my ear. "How would you like to become a superhero like one of the Avengers?"

I froze. "What do you mean, 'one of the Avengers'?" I asked quietly.

_This is not happening. No one but Tyler, Marissa, Brandon, and Christian know anything at all about my parents, and they've only seen Steve. They didn't even say anything about him._

Kevin frowned. "Um, are you offended? 'cause I just meant that if you're willing to risk it with me, I can give you superpowers," he said. "What's wrong?"

I inwardly exploded in relief. Secret is safe.

I forced a smile. "Nothing. But..." I bit my lower lip. "You'll have to show me how, first."

Kevin was already flipping through his notebook pages. All had math equations so complex they almost looked like another language. He flicked back and forth between a few that were completely filled with notes and symbols. He started saying something about how it all would work, but I tuned all of it out until he finished and grinned widely at me.

"So?" he asked expectantly, bouncing in his seat. "Do you agree to?"

_One : Last chance._

I bit the inside of my lip so hard it bled. "Yes."

Kevin looked ecstatic, and I noticed how handsome he was when he wasn't basically ripping out his hair like he was yesterday. "Great! Come to the Alloy building after school and when you go inside, there will be a guy dressed decked out in gray, and _only_ gray. Even his hair!" The warning bell sounded and Kevin got up, still instructing. "Ask for Lab 3, and he should have someone lead you to where I'll be working. When you arrive, we can start with the preparations. Bye Emilee!"

He was talking so fast that I was left in a daze with half a bottle of Naked Juice and a partially eaten apple.

Grabbing my backpack off the picnic tabletop, I headed to the Red House/rec 'room', tossing my apple core away as I went. I needed to think over a punching bag.

[break]

When I arrived in the Red House, there were only a few people there, and they all seemed to be engrossed in their own things... until I actually opened the door and stepped inside. All eyes turned towards me, other students pausing their video games or bookmarking their novels or even temporarily stopping a game of ping-pong.

I kept my eyes trained on the floor as I made my way through to the back, where two flights of stairs leading to the basement and the upper level were. I bounded down to the basement as quickly as possible, already taking off my backpack and pulling out a roll of white hand tape.

I headed into the locker room, which was, surprisingly, extremely clean. My best guess is that they cleaned it over the summer. Quickly changing into a pair of black and white gym shorts, an old gray and green basketball camp tee, and a black pair of Air Jordans, I went over any and every small detail I could've dismissed in anything that I hadn't really payed attention to in Kevin's chaotically genius ramblings. Nothing came to mind.

Now I was slightly stressed because I really didn't know what was going on, and stress makes me tired and being tired makes me aggravated.

I taped up my hands and viciously attacked the first punching bag I saw, regardless of how I really felt. I just wanted to draw, but I needed excercise that wouldn't potentially kill me, like basketball, which I seem to get hurt a lot in. Example: Yesterday, and this one time when Matt tripped over and fell on me and elbowed me in the head, even though WE WERE ON THE SAME TEAM. All my other injuries in this sport are very closely related in which I fall or something happens to my face/head.

By the time someone tapped against the door by the stairs, my knuckles were bleeding and had a dull ache with every pulse of blood.

I turned, rubbing at my knuckles as I stared at the man.

"Who are you?"

[break]

I bridged my hands in front of my mouth, leaning forward as I sat on one of the wooden benches inside the weight room. "So, _basically_, what you're telling me is that you want me to eat this pill?" My eyes glanced wearily at the roundish, dark orange chewable tablet. It looked a lot like a vitamin.

"Yes," the man answered, holding it out to me. His hands were gloved and he wore long clothing, but as he extended his arm, I could see burn scars over any part of visible skin. "Just take this without question and there will be no trouble, _Miss Stony_." The way he addressed me sounded like he knew something. He knew that Stony wasn't my real surname, he knew my middle name, my birthdate, the location of my _very first_ home even before Los Angeles, where my necklace came from, everything. Things even I didn't know of.

I grimaced, staring up at the masked face. It was very close to Slenderman. If Slenderman had even just eyes. They were piercing and different shades of green, with flecks of gold and ice blue.

"Why the hell would I take it?"

The man's eyes crinkled, like he was smiling. The skin around his eyes were burned, too. "Because your little family's life is at stake."

I swallowed thickly. I didn't even know what was happening. Nothing was making any sense at all. Why the hell was this guy even here? Who was he? To this day, I still don't know who he is. Not who he really is, anyway.

I unbridged my hands and held one out, eyes flicking toward the emergency exit. It led through stone passageways that made up a maze out of the building and about a mile away from the school. It was ancient, though, and no one had traversed through it for years.

He dropped the tablet into my hand and my fingers closed around it. My backpack was already completely on my shoulders.

I bolted.

I rammed open the door with my shoulder, since the wood was rotting and falling apart anyways. There were splinters in my shirt, shoulder and neck, but I couldn't feel a thing. Confusion, fear, disorientation, yeah, I could feel that, but no pain yet. I think one got in my eye, but I can't remember.

The man was shouting behind me, chasing me. I sprinted around corners, skidding over dirt and occasionally smacking into a wall or two. Light filtered through crossed bars fitted into round metal openings around ground level.

He followed me as far as the green tag, which meant we had gone 2640 feet in. Halfway through. I ducked into a small space where the light from the openings couldn't reach, shrinking into a corner until the man left.

My heart pounded in my chest as I gasped for breath. The pill was still in my bandaged hands.

I closed my eyes tightly and hoped it all was hallucinations from lack of water. Anything I felt, saw, heard, said, tasted, all of it. It had to be just another episode of dehydration. Something like this had happened before. Biggest heat wave I'd been through in LA, and with how much I hated drinking water, big problems had happened with my head.

But no. The pill was still there. That was all the evidence I needed.

After about half an hour of sitting and waiting to see if the masked man would return, I finally got up and searched for an exit point. Finding nothing but the metal light openings, I searched through my bag. Nothing useful to undo any screws or break open the bars. I walked to the next one over. Some of the bars were rusted and bent.

I pried them open with strength that definitely wasn't mine, squeezing through when the space was just barely big enough for me to fit through. Looking around, I decided I could walk back to school.

_This shit is weird._

_[break]_

_Aaaand done. :/ This chapter's content was altered so... yeah. Weirdness. BUT! ... I don't know. OTL Hope you liked this screwy chapter..._

_Questions? Go ahead. Don't understand what's happening? That's alright, because I'm kinda lost myself... The chapter didn't write itself the way I hoped... But meh. It'll all work in the end~ Already considering a sequel to this fic, and we're not even close to the middle. We've only begun~_

_On another note, Junior High is slowly killing me D: We just starting Thursday and already my English assignment is seriously hard... I CAN'T FUCKING WRITE POEMS._

_Edit-NOV11,2012: I've decided to work this guy into the story instead of destroying him completely; to erase him and all of my shit mistakes, I'd have to rewrite the whole story. And even though it's only 5 chapters so far, it's quite a bit for a student like me. Sorry!_

_~Kurami~_


	5. Lurk in the Shadows pt1

_Hey, Puppets and Dolls! I'll be writing in present tense in a couple future chapters for... reasons. Enjoy chapter 5!_

_ONWARDS!_

[break]

5. Lurk in the Shadows pt1

_Emilee_

[break]

I walked for almost an hour, stopping in front of the Alloy building feeling sick to my stomach. The orange pill was in small plastic baggie I found in my backpack.

I pushed open the metal doors, stepping into the quiet and cold building. The only sounds was the clinking of glass and the hollow clanging of shoes against the floors.

A man around the age of twenty five leaned against the wall near the receptionist desk. He had slate colored hair and gray skin. He was fit, with his skin stretched tightly across muscle and bone. He was really good looking, with rugged facial features and stormy eyes.

I walked up to him and he coolly quirked a brow. "I'm Lightning Typh. Can I help you?"

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment to recall which lab Kevin was in. "Uh... Do you know what lab Kevin Bosch is in?"

Lightning shook his head. "I'm sorry but I only have records of occupancy in the rooms. Who _occupies_ the labs, however, is blank."

I sighed. "Thanks, anyways. Can you show me where the elevator is?"

Lightning nodded and gestured to the service elevator marked off by an 'X' of yellow tape, tossing me a key. "Whatever lab you're going down to, there'll be an air chute next to the door. Containers are stored right under it, so after you're at the right one, send the key back up."

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

I tried 1 and 2 before ending up at Lab 3, where Kevin was concentrating heavily on a small vial. I chose not to interrupt and waited for him to notice me. The green and blue stuff he held looked highly biohazardous and I'm sure that if he had dropped it, it could've possibly killed us all.

When Kevin looked up, his eyes widened and he gingerly set down the two vials. "You look like hell! What happened? !"

I held out the plastic baggie containing the pill. "This happened." I tossed it onto his metal table. "Run tests on it. Be thorough. Take it apart and put it back together so well that you could recreate one," I order firmly. "I did _not_ risk my life not eating that and running from Slenderman for you not to be able to find out what that piece of shit is."

Kevin raises a brow and grabs a pair of tweezers to pick up the bag, scrutinizing it before glancing at me again. "_Slenderman_? Are you dehydrated or something? Y'know, water is really important, especially since it's hot this time of year." He opened the baggie and used the tweezers to carefully take the tablet out and put it in a very small plastic box. "But yeah, I can do that."

I snorted and leaned against the wall, dropping my backpack and hugging it to my chest and looking around the room. It looked a lot like the lab in _Mission Impossible 2_, but with a whole space in the far left corner of the room completely empty. "I thought I was, but when you're being chased by the scariest person in the world who tells you to take a pill without question and you're forced to use the underground maze thingy that hasn't been used in a bagajillion years and then you have to get out through one of the round metal thingies that looks like it belongs in some part of a sewer and so you have to walk half a mile back to school and you _still __have the pill_ and you have to find which lab your friend was in because you forgot and you get kicked out and threatened with nerdy chemical stuffs from the first two labs, I THINK I'M FULLY SANE AND NOT DEHYDRATED."

Kevin only blinked once at me before returning to observe the orange tablet, holding a pen in his left hand while he tapped away at a keyboard hooked up to a very large monitor hanging far up on the wall above me. "Um, yeah, you'll have to tell me that story another time. And, for the record, I don't think you're fully sane."

I grabbed my backpack, dropped it in my lap, and smashed my face in it.

[break]

After about an hour, Kevin _actually_ reconstructed the pill. "Well, it seems that all this really is is, well, ironically, a hallucinogen, made from hallucinogenic plants that include, and _are_ limited to, xanthoxylum rhetsa, tetradium, leptactinia densiflora, hordfieldia superba, virola cuspidata, and good ol' cannabis, or marijuana. So, a crackpot of horrible stuff that would make you bend to their will and want to kill yourself afterwards. It's just... blegh."

I scrubbed my hands over my face. "Then thank the ferret goddess that I didn't take it."

Kevin didn't look worried, but his eyes were a different story. They matched what mine must've looked like earlier: pure, unaltered fear. "Mhmm. Now, are you ready for the start of your supplement diet that consists of consuming little more than pills and certain fluids through hypodermic needles?"

"You really expect me to take pills or anything that is even remotely related to drugs?" Kevin smiled and suddenly looked a little too gleeful, a little too excited. I groaned and stared miserably at him. "What for?"

Kevin tossed me a white notebook with black designs on the cover. On the bottom of the plastic cover, it was labeled 'The Project, Notebook I, Experiment Edition'. I frowned at the notebook, then at him. "What the hell?"

"It's my first notebook on this endeavor, rewritten and dumbed down for you, sans most of the equations," Kevin answered. "Open to the first page and I'll explain further."

I was greeted to English and math I could understand without having to look up things every word or so.

I flipped through the pages. "Thank God you took my non-science-y brain into consideration, Kev."

"Welcome," he muttered, stretching and popping his back in several places. "Now, the _supplements_."

I moaned loudly, drawing it out and stomping petulantly over to the stool he patted. I plopped down, pouting and crossing my arms. "I don't want to."

"Unless you want to disintegrate, I advise you to start it now."

I swallowed thickly. "_Fine_," I spat. "Pass me through _more_ trauma, would you?"

Kevin chuckled and cards a hand through his wavy hair. "Lets start with the pills and we can add regular shots in a couple weeks."

Two minutes later, I'm staring warily down at about a dozen pills, all different colors, and a fairly long syringe with a blue liquid. Bubbles pass up and down in the blue concoction, like a lava lamp. Not very reassuring that I'll live until tomorrow. "Are you _sure_ this is safe for human use?"

The chemist(and biochemist) shrugged. "Well, yeah. I've tested a bit. The worse I got was just the hints of a cold, but that's it."

I glared at him. "How much?"

He thought for a second. "Um, maybe quarter of a CC?"

My eyes widened. "THIS IS AT LEAST A FIFTY CCS!" I screeched. "YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME!"

Kevin shook a finger as he shook his head. "No no, most likely quite sick, nothing more," he corrected.

"Oh, and that makes a _big_ difference, doesn't it? !" I hissed. I frowned, shooting a look at the syringe. "Why do I have to take _this_ one, anyways?"

"Because that's the only one that I've made that's compatible with all the other mandatory serums to give you fire powers," Kevin said evenly, a cool smirk on his lips. "Unless you'd like to become a living fireball?"

I let out a deep sigh through my nose and held out my arm. "Inject away."

[break]

I stared at my left arm. Grabbed it with my right. Tossed it up. It flopped down to my side. I turned my blank gaze to Kevin.

"DA FUQ H4PP3N3D."

Kevin scratched his head. "Um, well... It wasn't suppose to deaden your arm, so this isn't intentional," he tried helpfully. I kept staring at it. "But I _swear_ it'll only be temporary!"

I grabbed my numb, heavy arm and slapped him across the face once. I waited a beat. Then I attacked him brutally, smacking him wildly. "HOW FUCKING LONG IS TEMPORARY? !"

Kevin wrapped his arms around his head, bending down to try to curl into a half-assed ball. "I don't know!"

We were unaware of blue eyes sparkling with interest watching us from the elevator before their owner punched another elevator button with his knuckle and an amused smile played on the owner's lips.

[break]

I crossed my arms across my chest. My left arm was just recently 'undeadened', and it'd been almost a week since it'd been unusable. I was standing next to Kevin as he sat on a metal stool. He'd been studying a vial of foul smelling liquid a pinkish brown color. "You fucker," I pouted. "Do you know how hard it was trying to keep this" - I motioned around the lab with my hand - "a secret from my parents? ! I had to lie and say I hurt myself somehow and my arm was all numb! My Pops thought I was sick or something and _wanted to take me to the hospital_, or worse, get checked out by my [insert cough here] mom and er, [another cough] _her_ coworker, who are both types of doctors!"

Kevin raised a brow at me, though he never took his eyes off the fizzy concoction as he turned it in the bright flourescent lighting. "Oh? They would never be able to figure out exactly what it is, in any case."

I shook my head and pulled up another stool opposite of his side of the table, carefully seating myself. I'd fallen off last time. "You don't get it; they're amazing doctors and scientists to boot. And, might I add, smarter than you." Kevin scowled.

"Have you taken your supplements yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

I frowned. "No."

"Take them," the chemist ordered, glancing at me. "Unless you've decided you don't really want to do this anymore. You haven't chickened out on me, have you?"

I sputtered. "Of course not! Are you nuts?"

Kevin let out a harsh breath. "Then take. Your. Vitamins."

I slammed a hand down on the table childishly, whines escaping my lips as I stomped over to another table, with drawers, that Kevin kept all the syringes and pills necessary for me to take before we could inject the serum. _If_ we could find a way how to. Kevin gave me a disapproving frown.

"Don't do that," he chided. "You'll make me drop things and then the process will take a lot longer."

I snorted but only knocked back five tiny pills at once dry, immediately going for a small bottle of orange stuff and a syringe. The needles and medications weren't that bad anymore; I got used to them after the first day of intense boosting. Kevin gave me at _least_ forty pills the day after I was chased by 'Slenderman' and thirty-two shots, give or take for both.

"So why can't you give me water powers or something?" I asked, opening the second drawer for the syringes solely for morphine. My shots would give me weird after effects, and sometimes pain on different levels, and Kevin and I agreed it'd be safer to just take it instead of being miserable for a while.

"I told you: I've only figured out to do fire. Water would make your molecules all separate and or rearrange, so you'd turn into a puddle of something or a mush."

"Earth?"

"You would never be able to move _at all_, including breathing, so you'd die within a minute after the serum."

"Wind?"

"I don't really want to find out, really. Seems a bit dangerous, yes? And who the hell would want _wind_ powers that they're not born with?"

"... Point taken, but just inquiring. Thunder or lightning?"

"You'd electrify yourself constantly with a dangerously high wattage count. Not a good idea."

"Um... Uh, how about..." Kevin snorted and turned his full attention to me, crossing his arms. "Light or darkness?"

The chemist shook his head as if he was disappointed by my answer before returning to the disgusting thing in the vial. "Currently impossible under my power. Those are completely different things from elements that I haven't stalked yet."

"What do you mean 'stalked'?" I made air quotes with my fingers.

"The highest level of concentration and obsession while studying and or observing a subject," Kevin informed me. "My definition of stalk."

I blinked. "Okaay. Sounds like _someone's_ been thinking on that definition for a while."

Kevin hummed evenly. "You get lonely when you're working by yourself most of a day in a lab where no one knows what you're doing."

I glanced down at my watch. 7:38 PM. I was suppose to be home by four-thirty if Steve and Tony didn't know ahead of time. "Shit shit shit shit! I missed curfew by three hours!" I yelped, bolting for my backpack and rushing to the elevator. "Bye, Kev, see you tomorrow!"

"Wait, Em!" I turned just in time to catch a binder. "Tell your parents that you had to stay late for a mandatory study sesh," he said. "They fall for it every time."

"Thanks, bro," I breathe. "You're a life saver."

I hopped in the elevator and gave Kevin a small wave as the doors close. I hit the button labeled 'L' for lobby and said goodbye to Lightning on my way out.

I tore down the walkway, just barely able to squeeze into the school bus before the doors closed. The bus driver smiled at me.

"Hello," she said. "Just take a seat. You're the only person, so where to?"

"Stark Tower," I sighed, slumping the seat behind her. "As quickly as possible without breaking any laws, please."

The woman laughed and began driving. "You got it."

[break]

I let myself in, pressing my hand to the panel that is uncovered by a hidden sliding portion of the wall Peter had shown me. I turned the knob slowly, careful not to make any noise and hoping JARVIS(who Peter also introduced me to) didn't rat me out. Two people cleared their voices behind me and I silently cursed.

"Where have you been?" Tony questioned, taking a few steps towards me. His arms were folded across his chest, almost covering the glow of the arc reactor. Steve sat on the couch, staring down at a sketch pad, pencil hovering over the blank page.

"At school?" I held out the binder, eyes flicking down at it to check the cover. Kevin had slipped a sheet of printer paper with 'Co-Ed Project: The Rose's Thorn - Alloy' typed at the top and our names under it. "I, uh, had a project, with, um, a friend." I didn't sound very convincing.

Tony took it, making his way back to Steve, who looked up. His blue eyes were filled with worry, anger, and slight panic that was beginning to slowly recede. Steve stood up and took the two steps to envelop me in a tight hug. My face was pressed to his solar plexus due to the large gap in height difference.

"We were so worried," he sighed, pulling me back to look me eye to eye. "Why didn't you call us?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. I guess I didn't think about it. We were testing chemicals and stuff."

Tony glanced at me. "Chemicals?" He sounded interested and my heartbeat sped up. I had no knowledge of science and was solely relying on whatever Kevin had in that binder.

Steve rolled his eyes and moved a hand to rest on my shoulder as he steered me gently to the kitchen. "Tony, you are _not_ going to start talking about sciencey stuff I don't understand right now. Emilee needs to eat."

I salivated. Kevin hadn't fucking fed me at all today, unlike the days before, where he suggested(read: forced) me to eat some food. "Food. Food sounds good," I agreed.

Thank god for doting fathers.

Steve set down a microwaved plate of mushroom ravioli with pink sauce down in front of me just as I sat down at the bar counter. I stabbed a fork in a piece, chewing quietly.

Steve had disappeared back into the living room, and I could hear most of their conversation.

"Oh my god, Steve, look what they're learning in junior high level science," Tony exclaimed. "This is what I fucking learned in AP high school classes!"

"Kevin Bosch, I will murder you the moment I see you if I have to explain any of this shit," I growled under my breath.

Shuffling sounds. "Wow. That's... Wow." Steve. "But, Tony, I don't really think we need to look through her binder. You might destroy something."

Tony scoffed, mock offense coloring his tone. "Why, Steve, I'm hurt that you don't even trust me with our daughter's school assignment, an advanced science project, no less!"

"_Tony_..."

I swallowed the last bite of pasta and slid off the stool to place my plate in the sink. Even though there was a dishwasher _right next to the sink_, Steve prefered to wash dishes by hand most of the time.

Steve poked his head around the wall. "We're having a movie night since Peter's at Wade's," he said. "You can join us if you want."

I smiled. "I'll be right there. I just want to grab some sweets."

Steve pursed his lips. "No more than two, alright?"

"Mhmm."

Steve goes back to the living room, where I can hear Tony yelling to Steve to help him choose what to watch.

I make my way through the bluish-mostly-darkness into the family room, having chosen Sour Patch Kids and Watermelon Sour Patch.

The opening credits to 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' are starting when I sit down between Steve and Tony, who unconsciously cuddled together a little more towards me. _This is what family should be like_, I decided contentedly.

Halfway through the movie, we've dissed actually watching, instead having a discussion about one of the actors. Tony even brought the lights up to halfway so we can see each others' faces.

"Alright, fine," I threw up my hands. "You and Robert Downy Junior look _a lot_ alike, but not perfectly similar!"

"We could be twins!" Tony insisted, shaking his head. "How could you _not see it?!_"

~Later~

Tony and I stared at Steve, who fidgeted under our gazes. "W-what?"

"You. And Chris Evans." I bit the inside of my cheeks to try to stifle my laughter. A smile still broke through. "NAKEDNESS!"

Steve blushed brightly. The red was visible, even in the dark. "What? I wasn't in that movie!"

"No, but you're _basically_ Chris Evan's carbon copy!" I exclaimed, a full out grin and laugh bubbling out of my lips.

"But he has dirty blonde hair," Tony argued.

I frowned. "Pops has the same! Just longer and a different style!"

Tony snorted and leaned back, crossing his arms. "Oh, so _he_ looks _exactly_ like Chris Evans, you'll agree with that, but you don't think that I'm a clone of Robert Downey Junior!" He threw his arms up in exasperation.

Steve waved his hand in between us. "Uh, guys?"

"Well, you could be brothers, or something, I guess," I sighed. "But not like, identical twins."

Steve tapped my shoulder. "Guys."

"You must be blind," Tony joked, "because - "

"GUYS!"

Tony and I jumped and turned to Steve. He looked tired. "Let's just stop this and go to sleep. It's late and Emilee, you're not getting out of going to school tomorrow."

"Why?"

Steve raised a brow. "Your school project?" he asked.

"Oh. Oh! Oh yeah! Goodnight!" I kissed Steve's cheek and curtsied mockingly to Tony, who laughed. I raced up the stairs, tripping on the top one.

The first thing I did was take a long, hot bath. God knows how many chemicals were on my skin after being in Kevin's lab. He was probably immune to it all by now, but the change in air made my skin itch and burn uncomfortably. My phone rang from the room and I groaned as I combed a hand through my wet hair.

When I got out ten minutes later and changed into a gray t-shirt and blue running shorts, my phone rang again. I cocked my head to the side, rubbing a towel through my hair. I draped it around my neck and looked at the number. Unknown. Ignored it and went to bed.

"Young Mistress Emilee, would you like to hear the voice message?"

"OH GOD!" I fell out of my bed, sheets tangling my legs together. My head smacked against the corner of my side table. "THE FUCK IS THIS SORCERY? !"

I heard a tired moan through the wall from the direction of Peter's room. He must've come back sometime and I didn't hear him. "It's JARVIS, Emilee. Go to sleeeeeep..." he pleaded. "He's the equivalent of a nonphysical butler, with super brains."

"Will you tell me more tomorrow?" I asked.

"Fine, but just go to SLEE-E-EEEEP!" Peter whined.

"JARVIS?" I tested.

"Yes, Young Mistress Emilee?"

"Emilee would be fine, thanks. And yeah, play the voicemail." I sat up and let my head go slack against the headboard. Kevin's voice came through in a soft murmur.

"_Hey Em. Uh, I was just calling to say goodnight... Just checking up on you to see if you're home safely... 'Cause I know the buses usually stop picking up students after nine. Uh, alright. I'll just... Goodnight, sweet dreams."_

I smiled. "Thanks, JARIVS."

"Any time, Young Mistress Emilee."

Turning over, I clicked off my light and fell asleep, a stupid smile plastered to my face.

So what if I had to go through all these events? Running away from Slenderman, taking questionable substances, and hiding a tough secret wasn't as hard as this crush would be to get over.

[break]

_:I I know. It's weird. Forgive me. Pleeeeeeeaaase? Thank you... School is stressing me out! Dx_

_BTW, the Bourne movie series is killer. Warning though: Contains large amounts of mindfuck, so don't watch at night with six glasses of lemonade iced tea. You will not be able to go to sleep. Reason why I'm awake. Jashin, Ultimatum..._

_Ta._

_~Kurami~_

_Edit: ... Yeah, um, that was crap. Can someone help me work off of this? I'm a mess._


End file.
